The Thirteenth
by Darth Malleus
Summary: Discontinued. A reunion with a long lost thireenth colony does not go exactly as planned. Stargate/Battlestar Galactica 2003 x-over
1. Prologue

_**Battlestar Galactica 2003**_

_**Stargate**_

_**The Thirteenth**_

_**Prologue**_

_**This is taking place before the fall of the Twelve Colonies and at the end of the Stargate series. Just a few changes, the Ori never happened, you hear me, NEVER HAPPENED! But Atlantis, the fall of the Goa'uld & the Replicators all happened.**_

_**I would say that I don't care about reviews…but I would be lying, it is the reviews and opinions of my readers which give me inspiration and keep me going! Don't believe me then check out my other works, the people who supported me were my muse and my inspiration, I took each of their opinions and melded it to my work.**_

The Battlestar _Pegasus _was one of the most powerful warships within the Colonial fleet, one of the newest of the _Mercury-class _line,armed with state of the art weapons, communications and radar technology. Her armour was thick, able to withstand several direct hits from nuclear ordinance, her form covered with primary and point-defence kinetic energy weapons, each grouped into four, twelve missile launchers, two aft, two fore, and four positioned on each of the Battlestars two flight pods.

Standing within the CIC, the central control chamber of the Battlestar stood Vice-Admiral Helena Cain, her dark brown eyes studying the DRADIS sensor displays. They were as expected, empty. There had not been a single contact since she started this shakedown cruise. Just as she expected, the Battlestar's path was taking it right along the Cylon armistice line. There had not been a single contact anywhere near this line since the armistice with the Cylon menace nearly forty years ago.

"All is going smoothly" her xo and old friend Jurgen Belzen said calmly as he took his place by his commander's side, his arms clasped behind his back.

"Yes" she sighed, turning from the hexagonal tactical table and surveying the crew of the CIC, all working quietly at their stations, performing checks on internal systems for any bugs or hiccups.

"It is strange having this maiden cruise right by the armistice line" Belzen questioned "We could have just taken her to Gemenon, or to Caprica"

"I just want to give her a proper shakedown" Cain replied "The armistice line is a good and long route, it will give the crew time to give her a thorough rundown on her systems"

"I suppose so" her executive replied "But if I know you, and believe me I know you. You'd like to give her weapon systems a thorough tryout as well, oh say, on a Cylon Basestar for instance"

"The Cylon's haven't been heard from in over forty years Jurgen" Helena answered stiffly "Besides ceasefire protocols stop me from destroying one of those infernal things unless it trespasses"

"Chances are they aren't even out there" she looked over at him questioningly "I mean they could be at the other side of the galaxy by know"

She shrugged and turned back to the command station, right on time to see a blip appear on the DRADIS display.

"DRADIS contact!"

------

The _Ark Royal _was the newest of the _Daedalus-class _Battlecruisers, making it the fifth warship of the class created for the infant Tau'ri fleet. She was of the same design as her predecessors, her armoured hull armed with rail-guns, missile launchers and an Asgard beam cannon. She had been built with Asgard grade shield, detection, communication and weapon systems, making her one of the most powerful ships of the fleet.

Samantha Carter stood on the bridge of the new cruiser, watching as its crew continued with their shakedown run. On the captain's chair was Colonel Richard Winchester, a highly decorated pilot in the British RAF who had seen combat in Afghanistan and Iraq. He seemed to relax in his chair before another small alarm sounded in the communications section.

"Which system has gone out now?" he asked with a sigh.

"Just a small problem with the com units sir" his communications officer, a young woman responded "It will just take a second to sort out"

The Colonel sighed before turning to Sam "Might I ask ma'am, have any of the other battlecruisers had this much trouble on their maiden run?"

"Oh yes" Carter replied "The original _Daedalus _had been put back by six months with technical problems before she was launched"

"Nice to know we aren't the only bloody ones who have problems" the Colonel breathed.

"Relax Colonel" Samantha replied with a small smile "That's why we're doing this shakedown, so we know that all the bugs have been dealt with before we fully hand her over to you"

"Yes I heard the French one suffered a complete systems failure on her first flight" the Colonel replied "Poor buggers"

"The _Bonaparte _did have a few hiccups" Sam replied "But she was sorted out…eventually"

The Colonel chuckled before changing the subject "So tell me about this system we're going to Colonel, has it been fully mapped yet?"

"No" she replied "That's another reason why we're going here. It's on the outskirts of the galaxy. Not even the Jaffa or the Goa'uld ventured this far to the edge"

"Then I suppose we'll be naming it" Winchester chuckled "How does Trafalgar sound?"

"Hmm" the advisor thought about it for a moment before replying "The Trafalgar system…nah"

"You yanks have no grasp on history" he said with humour "Hmm…how about Britannia"

"Maybe"

"Five seconds till hyperspace exit" Major Wallace stated from the pilots chair.

"I suppose we can write this off as a success"

"We have exited hyperspace sir" Wallace replied before alarms blazed across the brdge, Winchester sighed before turning back to communications.

"What now!?" he asked, slightly annoyed.

"Contact" the sensor officer shouted "Unknown craft!"

"Where" Winchester asked before turning to the main view-screen, his eyes widened in surprise. A huge vessel was right in front of them, easily five times the size of the _Arc Royal _and heading straight for them. Its heavy armour and assortment of gun turrets told him it was a warship of some sort.

"Hard to port!!!" he shouted.

------

"They're right on us!" the DRADIS operator nearly screamed.

"Hard to port" Cain yelled, bracing herself against the CIC command table and waiting for the inevitable collision "Hard to port, evasive manoeuvres!!!"

"How did they get so close without us seeing them?" Jurgen shouted in panic.

"Could have just jumped in or-" she didn't have time to finish before they hit, a near deafening screech of metal on metal could be heard, the collision throwing crew off their feet and too the decking.

An aide flew from the higher deck and landed on the ground floor with a painful thud, holding onto his arm which had been twisted in an unnatural shape. Several consoles across the bridge sparked, the DRADIS and CIC displays shorted out, followed by the main lights.

A few seconds passed before the emergency lights came on, casting a dim red glow upon the CIC. The screeching stopped and slowly Cain got to her feet, shaking from the impact she grabbed onto the main table for support "Give me damage reports now!"

As the crew scurried to their duties the displays fizzled back, showing that one red blip which she wanted to turn to mush. The emergency lights were replaced by the main lighting again. A medic rushed in to check on the injured aide. It was a half minute before her executive officer came up to her with the report.

"Slight damage to the portside flight pod" he said with relief "No hull breaches, looks like our unknown tried to evade as well"

"Have damage control teams do a complete sweep of the flight pod anyway" Cain ordered sharply "Make sure that there's no hull breaches that they didn't miss, launch a squadron of fighters to check on the other vessel, if they report it as hostile then launch all squadrons and activate defence protocol!"

"And if it's Cylon?"

"Blow it out of the frakking sky!"

------

"Christ" Winchester stuttered, rubbing the back of his neck "Damage report!"

"Minor damage to the port fighter bay" Lieutenant Allen called from his post "Looks like they had the same idea we did"

"Shields, weapons, communications" Sam asked, coming up beside the lieutenant and checking his computer screen.

"All operational sir"

"Excellent, hail them!"

The lieutenant obliged "Attention unknown vessel, this is the Earth ship _Ark Royal_, please respond"

"They're launching a squadron of fighters!"

"Prepare rail-guns" Winchester ordered "Take us to security level 2, raise shields"

"Yes sir"

"Any reply?"

"No sir"

"Keep trying" he ordered "Have all 302 pilots prepare for emergency combat launch. Do not engage unless fired upon. We might have just spooked them"

"Yes sir"

Sam leaned over the command console and pushed a rune on the captain's chair, a holographic image fizzled to life, showing the undamaged side of the ship they had barely missed. From small openings in the side of the flight pod small forms were emerging, quickly she modified the image, zooming in closer to the launch holes.

The fighters were sleek with thin chases leading up to a cockpit, stubby wings and a tail wing, too small to accommodate rocket launchers or any other heavy weapon. They formed up a few hundred meters from the pod and flew in towards them with remarkable speed.

"All rail-guns report ready"

"Shields are up and holding strong"

"Any reply" Winchester asked from his chair, sparing but a quick glance to his communications operator.

"No sir"

"Keep trying" he said briskly through gritted teeth "Are the 302's ready?"

"Both squadrons are in their birds sir, they are just waiting for your order"

------

"First squadron of Vipers have been launched"

"They have a visual on the unknown"

"Captain Tailor is calling ma'am"

She picked up a corded phone and spoke, knowing that the squadron leader was waiting on the other end "Is it Cylon Stinger?" she asked, calling the captain by his call sign.

"If it is then they've drastically changed their ship designs ma'am" he replied "Its got a similar design to a Battlestar but much smaller, a few hundred meters long, something which looks like a command tower on the dorsal section, flight pods on either side"

"Any hostile action?"

"Negative ma'am, it's just sitting there"

"Ma'am I'm getting something" her com officer stated "Its weak, looks like they're trying to get our frequencies"

"Is it coming from the ship?"

"Yes" was his reply as his hands danced across his console, trying to sharpen the volume and quieten the static, a few moments passed before they heard a voice, still muffled by static.

"Attention unidentified…this is the…ship…_Royal_, please res…over"

"Try and fix that" Cain ordered "Send a reply and order Taylor to keep his distance!"

The officer nodded as she worked, and after a moment she grinned "Got it"

A single phrase burst through the static, clear and crisp "-This is the Earth ship _Ark Royal_, please respond"


	2. Breakdown

_**Chapter 1**_

_**Breakdown**_

From the starboard flight pod a Raptor flew, its bulky frame flanked by four Vipers of the _Pegasus 1__st__ Squadron_. Sitting within the passenger's compartment of the scout ship was Jurgen Belzen alongside three Colonial marines. He looked up out the canopy, past the two pilots controlling the vessel to see the Earth ship, the _Ark Royal_.

It was quite similar in design to that of a Colonial Battlestar, but much smaller at only roughly two hundred and fifty meters in length. It had two flight pods on either side of its frame with a long sinewy neck stretching back to a bulkier, circular body. A command tower was situated upon the right hand side dorsal section. As they closed in he saw gun emplacements dot the cruisers hull alongside missile launchers and four small cannons located around the head of the vessel.

He was shook from his reverie when he heard the Raptors pilot "Earth ship _Ark Royal _do you read over, this is Raptor 129 asking for clearance to land"

"Raptor 129 this is control, you are cleared to proceed, a flight guard will be dispatched to guide you in" came the accented reply of the female communications officer "Welcome to the _Ark Royal_"

"Thank you control, Raptor 129 out"

Two small winged ships soared out of the _Royal's _portside hanger pod and swopped in alongside the Raptor, forming a flanking wing. The Vipers peeled off and returned to their squadron when they were within two hundred meters of the Battlecruiser. Jurgen looked the fighters up and down. They were winged vessels with machine guns on the nose and six missiles, three on each wing. They reminded the xo of old atmospheric jets.

The starboard flight pod took up his view by now and he watched as the 302's peeled hard to the right, leaving the Raptor to enter the pod with the minimum of fuss. As they got closer he noticed that the hanger was completely open to space but crew were still moving around, he saw the worry on the pilots faces.

His surprise doubled when he saw the ship pass through into the hanger bay and the outer sensors came to life, showing ample supplies of oxygen and nitrogen in the air, perfect breathing conditions. He needed to ask how this was possible with the bay opened to vacuum.

Fighters surrounded his little scout, eight of them in lines of four on either side of the hanger, engineers and technicians arming and fuelling them, alongside maintenance checks. As his ship settled into the decking with a comfortable hiss he waited for his marine escort to open the side hatch.

Beyond was an honour guard, twenty soldiers armed with strange kinetic weapons stood at attention in a column ten across and two back. His three marines were the first to exit the Raptor, forming up a protective circle around him when he came out. Taking a deep breath the xo of the _Pegasus _straightened out his dark blue uniform with red trim and walked out into the deck of a ship of the thirteenth colony, ready to make history.

------

"The Raptor has successfully landed ma'am" Taylor stated over the wireless, gaining a cheer of triumph from the bridge crew.

Helena dipped her head and allowed a small smile to cross her face. This was history in the making. She had already sent word of this discovery to the fleet headquarters on Picon. It should be on the president's desk by mid-afternoon Caprica time.

She turned her head to see a very welcome sight walk into the CIC, looking as clueless to the sudden celebrations as you could get, the blonde looked around before seeing Cain and strolling up to her "What's with the celebrations"

"Gina you're not going to believe this" Helena stated proudly "We have just ran into a ship of the thirteenth colony, it really exists"

Gina Inviere was on placement aboard the _Pegasus_, a systems analyst to study the Battlestars maiden run in preparation for her refit when she returned to the Scorpion Shipyard. She was a striking woman, tall and graceful with a slim body and long dark blonde hair done up in a ponytail. She and Cain became friends almost instantly and as the voyage dragged on they became something more.

The analyst seemed surprised by what she heard, before breaking out into a smile "Well it looks like a bottle of Caprican wine in celebration"

"I'll hold you to it" Cain whispered, leaning close to her ear and making her shiver from the warm air. But as Gina turned Cain's expression turned questioning, the smile did not reach her eyes. Surely such a historic event would have been met with a better response.

"I just forgot" Inviere stated suddenly "I'm needed down in engineering, could you excuse me for a few moments?"

"Sure" Helena replied and watched as the blonde walked away.

------

Dressed in green jumpsuits the commanding officers on the ship seemed as simply dressed as the other crew members on the Battlecruiser. One was a woman who looked in her late twenties or early thirties with blonde hair done up in a ponytail and crystal clear blue eyes, he guessed that this woman was Samantha Carter.

The other likewise wore the same green jumpsuit except he had a winged insignia just below the right of his collar and a strange insignia on its left. He was in his early forties with dark brown hair showing slight signs of greying, rugged features and dark brown eyes.

He stopped ahead of the two officers, his marines taking a few steps back and forming into a line, he extended his hand "Colonel's Carter and Winchester I presume, I am Jurgen Belzen, executive officer of the Battlestar _Pegasus_. On behalf of the _Pegasus_, the Colonial fleet and the Twelve Colonies of Kobol welcome"

The two nodded and shook his hand in turn before Samantha spoke "Welcome to the _Ark Royal _Mr. Belzen"

"Thank you Colonel" Jurgen replied before taking a sideways glance to the still open hanger bay doors "I must admit that I was a little shocked by the fact that there's nothing between us and open space, tell me how are we able to breath?"

"The bays are protected by energy fields which act as a barrier, keeping the breathable air in and the vacuum out" Sam explained, drawing a slightly comical confused look from the Colonial officer.

"Energy field" he said unsteadily "You mean a shield"

"Yes" she replied, looking uncertainly at Winchester. By the way this officer acknowledged her answer she was guessing that they never saw shield technology before.

"Why don't we all go to a quieter environment so we can talk further?" Richard offered said before guiding the Colonials out of the hanger bay, they in turn flanked by a squad of five marines.

The meeting room they entered was barely big enough to facilitate the Colonial and Earth parties, but it would suffice. As the people took their seats the lead Colonial officer cleared his throat "Now is it true that you're home world is Earth?"

"Yes it is" the British colonel replied as he took a seat next to Carter "Tell me how you came to know of our home world? This is our first time in this area of the galaxy"

"It was in our most ancient prophecies" Belzen explained "You see our scripture say that there was a world where humanity originally lived and that several thousand years ago thirteen colonies left this planet in search of other planets. Twelve settled in a nearby system and eventually formed the Twelve Colonies of Kobol while another colony is said to have gone even further and settled on a mythical world named Earth"

Carter and Winchester exchanged glances, finding the information hard to believe. The idea that they had settled on Earth was out of the question considering that concrete evidence told them that Earth was the cradle of humanity, that the Goa'uld came there and culled the planet for their slaves. Perhaps these people were likewise culled by the Goa'uld, forced to settle on the worlds of their masters.

"These scriptures, do they tell of a pantheon of gods?" Carter asked, carefully wording her questions.

"Yes they do" Jergen replied "They speak of the gods of Kobol, who lived among us before we settled across the stars. They tell of Zeus, Ares, and Athena to only name a few"

The two Colonels shared looks again. Those were gods of the ancient and now dead Greek pantheon, plus several of those figures had been identified as Goa'uld. This seemed to only strengthen their belief that these people may have once been under the influence of a few system lords.

"So tell me of your world, are you a united planet?"

"No" Carter replied, gaining a questioning look from the Colonial officer, she quickly reiterated "Earth is separated into several countries, all united by an organisation called the United Nations. I am from the United States of America while Colonel Winchester and most of the crew hail from one of our closest allies, the United Kingdom"

"I see" Jurgen replied, finding this information interesting. If Earth was as split as she was stating then it would be easy to gather sympathisers in their quest to make the thirteenth colony join them. The question was how did such a world with so many factions be able to achieve deep space flight?

------

This could not be allowed.

They had worked to long for this, they had spent decades implanting agents into the echelons of Colonial society, to prepare the way for the coming invasion and destruction of their hated enemy. The sudden appearance of this ship and what it represents could destroy those decades of planning.

A technician lay on the deck, his neck broken. Standing by a computer terminal the woman worked feverishly, unscrewing and taking off the covering to the internal systems, she fumbled with the wires, searching for one in particular. When she found what she was looking for she isolated it from the cluster and cut it open with a knife, she then turned the blade on herself, cutting a gash down her wrist. She inserted the wire and sat against the taken apart terminal, allowing the waves of nausea to wash over her.

She then set to work, flying through the Battlestars systems, bypassing or crashing through firewalls and finally finding the system she wanted. Fire control…point kinetic defence systems, main kinetic cannons…no…missile launchers…nuclear ordinance, found it. There was a nuclear missile in the second launch tube, front higher left.

She bypassed codes and system passwords with great ease, typing in the code she acquired from one of her more interesting nights with Helena Cain. She felt a pang of guilt in doing this, a small voice screaming for her to stop but quickly cast aside, no sign of weakness.

It needed to be done.

As she inputted the final code she found a single tear slide down her face and uttered a simple word as she pushed the button, alarms blared "Forgive me-"

------

"_-Helena"_

She spun with a start, almost entirely positive she heard Gina's voice call out to her. But dismissed the notion as herself going crazy. She turned back to the CIC just in time to hear the near deafening sound of alarms.

"What's going on?" she shouted.

"By the lords of Kobol" her weapons officer replied, his face going pale "Someone's hacked into the weapons systems, their bypassing all the firewalls…I can't shut them out!"

"What are they doing!?" Helena shouted in panic, stalking to the officer's station, a chill crawling up her spine.

"May the gods have mercy" he breathed "Their trying to fire one of our nukes!"

"Lock them out" she cried "Abort the launch!"

"I can't" he replied, typing in his emergency password only to see it denied by the main computers.

She ran over to the command table, rummaging in her pocket for the masters key, she found it, broke the glass security lock around the nuclear runes and inserted the key into the opening. She began to type furiously, but she wasn't fast enough.

"Missile has been launched!"

"Contact Vipers" she shouted "Shoot it down!"

------

Jurgen looked between the two Earth officers, his expression between disbelief and anger "So you are saying that our gods, the lords of Kobol are a race of parasitic aliens who have been enslaving humanity for thousands of years!"

Sam flinched back, this was a normal reaction "There was once a religion on Earth very similar to yours, but it died out thousands of years ago. We called it the Greek pantheon"

"Its like the lady said" Winchester added, starring down the ruffled officer in defiance "Several years ago the Americans uncovered a device known as a stargate which allows people to cross between planets through the use of artificially created wormholes. They found an alien empire known as the Goa'uld who had been enslaving humans for thousands of years. After years of fighting a guerrilla war against them they clued in the rest of the UN, who supported them until the wars end. The Goa'uld thought of themselves as gods, taking on the names of many such beings, including deities from your pantheon!"

"Then they are clearly pretenders" was his heated reply "The lords of Kobol were not enslavers, they created us and allowed us to travel through the stars. This includes you!"

Before the conversation could continue an alarm blared through the room and the mic came to life in an explosion of static "Nuclear missile inbound, brace for impact!"

"What" Richard shouted before an explosion rocked the superstructure, knocking him and everyone else to the floor. Alarms continued to blare, the lighting shorted for several seconds before stabilising.

The colonel flew to his feet as the tremors dissipated and staggered out the door towards the bridge, Carter and the Colonials following him. He slowly broke out into a run when he got his sense of balance back, sidestepping disoriented crew members as he made his way to the bridge.

"Report" he ordered sharply, sitting in his command chair.

"The shields took the brunt of the impact, it shaved thirty percent…radiation dissipating"

"Where did it come from" he roared.

"The _Pegasus _sir"

"It's a lie" Jurgen growled as he made his way onto the bridge "Why would we send a diplomatic party if we're going to fire upon you. It must be a mistake!"

"I saw the missile leave the tube myself" the xo of the _Arc Royal_, Major Ross shouted back heatedly.

"Battle stations" the colonel shouted "Rail guns give me a firing solution, launch 302's, and prep nukes. Ready the Asgard beam cannon for a warning shot across their bow!"

"Yes sir"

"Stop, you can't do that!" Jurgen growled, drawing his side arm and levelling it at Winchesters head, his three marines turned their firearms on the crew. In response the bridges compliment of four Royal marines aimed their SA80 assault rifles on the colonials.

"You will cease this now, order your men to lower their weapons" the colonial officer ordered, slightly nervous "I am taking temporary command of this ship!"

Another three Royal marines entered the bridge, their own rifles held against their shoulders, it took Belzens attention for but a second, but that was all he needed. In a quick move Winchester lashed out with his right hand, knocking the colonial officer on the wrist and forcing him to drop his handgun, he was out of his chair then, delivering a chop to the mans neck and sending him falling to the floor, unconscious.

Upon seeing their officer fall the colonial marines panicked and opened fire, riddling lieutenant Allen with tracer rounds, the young man fell to the floor, a pool of blood forming where he lay. Ensign Watson took a shot to her shoulder, sending her falling from the communications station with a scream of agony.

The Royal marines retaliated, firing a concentrated three second burst, dropping their colonial counterparts where they stood.

"Medic" Samantha shouted. Relieved when she saw a medical officer rush into the bridge to attend to Watson, she had passed out from the pain. Gritting his teeth Richard sat back down on the command chair, allowing another medic to look at his left leg, he had been hit.

"Beam cannon ready?"

"Yes sir"

"Fire a shot"

------

A beam of pure blue energy shot from one of the Asgard cannons on the _Ark Royals _front, lancing across space and across the armoured hull of the _Pegasus_, a miss, but so close that the outer layer of armour began to steam. From the two flight pods of the Earth ship streamed a small swarm of F-302's, a full compliment of sixteen fighters who formed up around the Battlecruiser as she pulled to port.

"All Vipers, all Vipers, engage hostile forces" Cain shouted into the com. This situation had gotten bad, it had turned from one of joy at realising that the thirteenth was more than a myth to panic when someone hacked into their systems and fired a nuclear weapon. It was too late now, they had returned fire. She had to defend her ship.

"Prep launch tubes one through four, point defence guns give me a firing solution, all Vipers launch!"

A swarm of Vipers shot out of their launch tubes, quickly forming up into their squadrons as they flew towards the fleeing Battlecruiser. Well ahead the 1st Battlegroup Pegasus squadron were closing in fast, captain Taylor gritted his teeth, forming up with his wingmen as they closed in.

"Short and steady bursts" he growled "Conserve your ammo, one shot one kill!"

Ahead of him the Earth fighters were breaking off from their formations and coming straight at his squadron in groups of two, he looked the winged craft up and down. The squadron climbed as they approached, gaining altitude over them, possibly for a dive attack.

"All fighters climb" Taylor ordered "Meet them head on!"

The Vipers matched the manoeuvres of the F-302's and when they got within a hundred meters of each other Taylor pulled the trigger, sending a sporadic burst of tracer fire from his nose guns. His wing mates copied the manoeuvre and were met by fire from the Earth ships. The two sides past each other, a Viper took a direct hit to its fuselage, blowing up in an explosion of fire.

"All fighters one eighty" he ordered and brought his Viper in a tight hundred and eighty degree spin, using his thrusters to perfection. His squadron followed, expecting the Earth fighters to be doing likewise. But to their surprise the pilots found their counterparts had flown well past them and were turning around for another pass.

"Their manoeuvring sucks" one pilot jeered.

"But their speed is impressive" another whispered.

"And they have missiles" red two added.

"Don't matter" Cole shouted "Reds form up good and tight, make them fight on our terms!"

------

"Fighters inbound" his new sensor officer shouted.

"How many"

"Twenty plus"

"Rail guns give me a firing solution" Winchester ordered "Fire when they are within range!"

"Yes sir"

"You can blame it on me Colonel"

Sam looked up at Winchester and saw the look of guilt on his face, she sighed "It wasn't your fault Richard, they fired first"

"I put some of my crew in danger" he replied "Got one of em killed…bloody hell"

"We'll take the blame together" she replied "I am the observer after all"

"They're within range"

"Rail guns open up!"

The thirty six rail guns of the _Ark Royal _opened fire, sending streams of tracer rounds flaring into the darkness of space, caught by surprise the Colonial fighters tried to evade. But the opening salvo took three out of the equation. The rest backed off, reformed and came at them again, splitting up into duos and trios.

All the while the Battlestar followed them, firing missile salvoes from its four front torpedo tubes. Two were intercepted by tracer fire, but the other two slammed into the shield, exploding as they were absorbed. The defence officer reported that the shields were down to fifty percent. The Colonial capital ship turned then, bringing its broadside to bear on the retreating cruiser.

"To hell with this" Richard yelled "Climb and turn, bring the Asgard cannons to bear! Aim for their engines!"

The_ Royal _climbed and turned with impressive speed, it dived down towards the portside of the Battlestar. The _Pegasus _fired from its dozens of point defence turrets, the shots rippling off the weakening shields of the Battlecruiser. It fired a beam of sapphire energy in return, impacting against the upper nacelles of the carrier, burning away the heavy armour. It fired again, striking the upper engines head on. An explosion followed, causing the entire Battlestar to physically tremble.

The _Daedalus-class _Battlecruiser passed overhead as the mammoth warship lipped to stern. Crippled from the shot from the _Royals_ powerful main guns, its point defence guns continued to fire well after the _Ark Royal _was clear.

"Order the 302's to return" Winchester ordered "Jump us to hyperspace when they are all safely landed!"

------

"By the gods" Red 4 murmured "The _Pegasus_"

Stinger saw it and felt his blood boil as the titanic warship began a slow spin, its engine nacelles trailing frozen smoke and debris. He growled angrily as a 302 took a shot at him and tried to break off. He brought his Viper into a spin with his thrusters, lining up his nose cannons with its fuselage. He pulled the trigger, watched the rounds puncture the armoured hull, saw them exit through the cockpit and finally yelled in triumph when it exploded.

"All Vipers return to _Pegasus _now!"

Taylor felt his blood boil further. Even when he saw the last few 302's break off and retreat back to their carrier. He wanted to follow, shot a few more of them out of the sky, but restrained himself. Their ship may have beaten the _Pegasus _but they had shot down six of theirs for only two of theirs. It was a sour victory, and ultimately a loss.

"Red squadron" he ordered through gritted teeth "Fall back to the _Pegasus_. They could use our help right about now!"

------

Cain forced herself back to her feet, tasting the coppery taste of her own blood as she steadied herself against the command table "Damage report"

"Engines are gone. We're dead in the water!"

"Hull breaches all over the rear decks"

"We're spinning"

"Seal of all vacuumed areas, stop all engines and bring us to a complete stop!"

"Yes ma'am"

"Send a distress call to Colonial HQ"

"Yes ma'am"

"And find out who the hell fired that missile!"

She looked up at the DRADIS displays in time to see the red blip of the _Ark Royal _vanish from the screens. Meanwhile Gina Inviere sat on her bed in her private quarters, her knees up to her chest, crying softly as the chaos continued around her.

**There's another chapter, man I'm on a role today lol. As always reviews make the world go round!**

**Thank you too magic 8, Lars, Torklan & kagswst for their reviews, glad I could bring this story on, I've been toying with the idea of a SG/BSG crossover for ages but just couldn't think up of a good idea.**


	3. Consolidation

_**Chapter 2**_

_**Consolidation**_

**Stargate Command (SGC)**

**USA**

Colonel Richard Winchester and Colonel Samantha Carter stood in the central meeting room of Stargate Command, starring down nine men and women in black suits and ties. These men and women represented the International Oversight Committee, an organisation of representatives from every major country within the United Nations. The nine people were from China, Russia, the USA, Germany, France, Japan, Australia, Spain and Great Britain.

"So Colonels please take us through it one more time" the Chinese representative asked, tapping her pen against the _Ark Royals _reports on the incident "You made contact with a warship…Battlestar called the _Pegasus_, you initiated first contact with them…and you were fired upon"

"Yes ma'am" Winchester replied sharply, standing at complete attention "That is what it says on the reports"

"Yes it does" the Russian advisor said "Your crew, the tapes and the reports say the same thing, you can all relax colonels, we're not here to question you're conduct. You acted precisely as the situation dictated"

Both physically seemed to relax at the statement, it was then that more men, dressed in navy blue USAF uniforms entered the meeting hall. Major General Jack O'Neill and Major General Henry Landry took their seats at the end of the table.

It was O'Neill who spoke first "So what can you tell us about these guys…and both of you sit down, you're making me nervous"

"Yes sir" both said in unison before taking their places.

"Well" Jack asked, motioning for them to begin.

"From what we have been able to ascertain they call themselves the Twelve Colonies of Kobol, a Federal Republic of twelve worlds with a planet called Caprica as their centre of government" Carter began, clasping her hands together as she talked "They consider Earth to be a long lost colony, a sister world colonised by a tribe who left their original home world, Kobol, before they did"

"So they consider us one of these tribes" Landry asked.

"Yes sir" Carter replied "Their representative, Jurgen Belzen, stated that they worship the ancient Greek pantheon of gods, like Zeus, Athena, Aphrodite and so on. They, or at least Belzen believe in this pantheon"

"So was it a group of worlds who rebelled against the Goa'uld like Earth did" Landry asked.

"We believe so sir" Carter replied.

"Their ships are also formidable" Richard added "One of their Battlestars was armed with rail-gun like weapons more advanced than ours, they have nukes, main cannons and enough room to store at least four full squadrons of fighters. Their fighters are sleek, not as fast as our 302's but far more manoeuvrable, they can make spinning turns which left our fighters shooting wide"

"One on one a _Daedalus _warship can beat one of their Battlestars, but if it's two or even three against one I wouldn't be so sure. They took our shields down to thirty percent before we blew their engines"

"Do we know anything about their military power" the French IOA member asked in heavily accented English.

"No sir" Carter answered "We know nothing about fleet sizes, but if they have even fifteen of those Battlestars then we wouldn't be able to win with the fleet resources we have now"

"Do they know the location of Earth?"

"No sir"

"And what about those Colonials"

"The two pilots and Belzen are being held in the brig sir" Winchester filed in "We can have them transported down here"

"Do it" Jack said.

------

Belzen simply starred at the new environment in surprise, rubbing his eyes to make sure that he wasn't imagining it. One minute he was in the brig of the Earth ship, alone with his thoughts. Then he was overtaken by a brilliant white light and found himself in a large chamber, surrounded by six marines. It was surreal.

Before him was a solid concrete wall with a huge observation window three meters up, large blast doors were situated on either side, greyish in colour with numbers imprinted on their surfaces. He looked behind him to see the pilot and co-pilot of his Raptor standing with him, their faces expressing the same confusion and neat panic that he was feeling. Behind them was a long ramp of steel leading up to a ringed structure with strange glyphs covering its surface. Guns were suddenly levelled at them, six marines holding different assault rifles then the ones he encountered on the _Ark Royal_.

Their uniforms were different as well, that was to be expected he supposed. But they were different. The marines on the Earth ship were dressed in black overalls and light armour, carrying scoped assault rifles with curved ammo clips. The patch on their arm was of a strange design with a blue background, covered by a blue and white x with red, covered again with a white cross with red. He guessed it was the flag for a nation.

These marines were dressed in camo-armour of forest green with blotches of black and brown, they were armed with more weapons, their main weapon was a compact assault rifle with a handgun holstered and a combat knife sheaved. On their arm patches was a different design, one of red and blue stripes with a square of stars on the top left hand corner.

One of them came forward "Executive Officer Jurgen Belzen?"

"Yes" he said, stepping forward, standing tall with his hands clasped behind his back.

The marine saluted "I am Major Frost, I have been ordered to take you to debriefing"

"You mean interrogation"

"Not my words for it sir"

"What was that just now" Belzen demanded "How did we get here?"

"Teleported sir" the Major replied "You were teleported from the Battlecruiser to the SGC"

"Impossible" Belzen retaliated mildly "Teleportation is impossible"

"Then how were you transported from the brig of the _Ark Royal_, in high orbit to an underground base sir" Frost asked with a raised brow before turning and walking forward, his contingent of soldiers surrounding Belzen and shepherding them out of the chamber "Oh, and welcome to Earth!"

They were led through the underground structure, any questions they asked conveniently ignored. Long corridors of thick concrete greeted them with the same grey blast doors. Personnel passed them by, some wearing army uniforms and carrying weapons similar to the marines which were escorting them, others wearing sea blue jumpsuits who he guessed were technicians, mechanics and operators.

Finally they were escorted to a single blast door, which opened to reveal a prison complex. The prisons design was simple, several pens four meters long and four meters wide stretched out before them, with bars of cold steel keeping the cells apart.

"Take those two to the cells, they will be called upon shortly" Frost ordered to four of his marines, who nodded and guided the still slightly confused pilots. Jurgen was about to follow before a gloved hand grabbed his shoulder "Not you sir, you're to be debriefed"

"Debriefed?"

He was taken further still, deposited in a dimly lit square of a room with no furniture but a simple steel table and two chairs positioned in the centre. The entire left side of the wall was made out of glass, telling the xo that there was an observation room on the other side. Sighing he walked over and took a chair, waiting for his interrogator to make an appearance.

The man who stepped through was not what he expected, a man in his late fifties to early sixties with greying black hair. He wore a blue uniform with stars on the shoulders and medals of some distinction on the upper left side of his jacket. He was obviously a man of considerable rank within the Thirteenth.

"So" Jack started, slowly taking a seat and starring into the colonial officers eyes "You got a name?"

The man remained silent, occasionally passing a dirty glance his way and nothing else "How about we call you Mick?"

Still no answer

"Alright Mick" Jack said "So tell me about your little Twelve Colonies of Kevlar"

"It's Kobol" 'Mick' replied in a clipped tone.

"Right, right" O'Neill muttered, seemingly deep in thought "So I want battle strength, fleet numbers, most powerful weapons…oh yeah and your version of coffee"

"The gods will smite you for your insolence"

"Believe me son they've tried and as you can see" Jack leaned forward "They failed miserably"

"You talk of these false gods" he asked "They are not our gods"

"There you go, that's the spirit" the Major General applauded sardonically "Boy it didn't take as long as I thought it would be"

"Look here Major General" he retorted "I have never been a devote follower of the gods, heck I rarely went to the temple services. But you come along, mock our faith and think that you could get away with it"

"Look here" Jack shot back "We didn't mock your faith, we simply told you our experience as we travelled the galaxy, now maybe your gods were the Goa'uld, although from what I have heard they may be something else entirely. That's not the issue. The issue is that your ship attacked my ship, there was a big bloody battle and plenty of good people died because of it!"

"We probably lost twenty or thirty crew, several fighter pilots and three marines" Jurgen growled back "What did you lose"

"Six pilots and a lieutenant" Jack growled back "Seven men and women who were expecting a test run and ended up getting into a fire fight, just because your commander couldn't keep her nuke in her wallet!"

Belzen growled angrily, but did not reply.

"So what is the strength of the Twelve Colonies?"

"One hundred and fifty Battlestars in active service, two thousand support vessels ranging from troop transports to supply ships to escort vessels" Belzen relented "Standing army nearly five million strong, though if there will be a war that number will begin to swell"

Jack took in the information sombrely. Relaying the odds of their little fleet taking on such an immense force and imagining the shock on the faces of the IOA members watching the interrogation beyond the reinforced glass, truly they had not faced an enemy of such number since the Goa'uld. His silence did not go unnoticed by the Colonial prisoner.

"If I were your people sir I would ask for terms of surrender" Belzen said "If you only have as many ships as you say, and if your world is as divided as I have heard then you can not win a straight out fight against us"

------

_**Battlestar Pegasus**_

_**Captain's Quarters**_

Barely a week had gone by since the battle with the _Arc Royal, _but they were ready. Thirty five Battlestars had been assembled, ranging from small _Valkyrie-class_ to old _Galactica-class _and new _Mercury-class _Battlestars. They had been assembled for but a single mission, to find the rogue thirteenth colony.

Admiral Nagala had personally taken command of the mission, naming the Battlestar _Atlantia _as his flagship. The _Pegasus _lay within one of the berths of the orbiting shipyards of Scorpio, a mass of repair cranes and labourers in airtight zero gravity suits working to replace her rear engines and hull armour.

Helena Cain opened her eyes and sat up in bed, grasping the bed sheets to keep them over her naked form. She yawned and looked over at her clock. It was six in the morning. She wasn't supposed to be up for another two hours. She lay back down in bed and tried to close her eyes again, but she couldn't, her mind continuously wandered back to that meeting with the Admiralty to explain her actions.

"_As I have said someone hacked into the computer systems, they managed to break through to our security protocols and launch a nuclear missile on the __**Ark Royal**__" she looked up defiantly at the council of Admirals, holding her ground against their piercing stares "What followed was a skirmish which we lost, the Earth vessel possessed weapons, both defensive and offensive far surpassing our own"_

"_Your report has confirmed this" Admiral Bass muttered, quickly skipping through the log pages "But lets discuss how this could have happened, a hacker broke through the most secure firewalls any computer could have within a matter of seconds"_

"_You said that the Earth vessel had technology more advanced than you have ever seen" Admiral Flynn added "Could it have been possible that they hacked into your computers and made it look like you fired first"_

"_Well I'm not sure sir" Cain replied, taken aback "Why would they do such a thing? Why not just fire at us directly?"_

"_Politics vice-admiral" Admiral Bass answered "Make it look like we were the ones who fired first, we would technically be in the wrong"_

"_It is possible that the Thirteenth colony is under the control of the Cylon menace" Admiral Vitari put forward "The Cylons are using Earth to declare war on us"_

"_The president is set to debrief you personally Vice-Admiral" Nagala stated "You will tell him this. You made contact and were fired upon by the Earth ship __**Ark Royal**__, in the battle which followed your Battlestar was badly damaged with the deaths of twenty personnel"_

"_But sir what about the dead technician, ensign Crooge, he had his neck snapped and a computer console had been taken apart, the hacker was obviously on my Battlestar!"_

"_These are treacherous times Cain" Nagala spoke up "With the teacher massacre on Caprica, the riots on Sagittaron over the capture of the terrorist Tom Zarek and the deadlock of the senate on military spending. If news got out that one of our Battlestars had not just been hacked into but fired on a starship of the lost thirteenth tribe it could tear the Twelve Colonies apart!"_

"_And your career would be over" Flynn added "You would be discharged and live your life in disgrace!"_

"_Well what will it be?"_

She had made her choice, and even now a week later she still regretted it, but the Admiralty was right, even if she didn't want to admit it. The Twelve Colonies were in a period of civil strife and turmoil, the people needed something to focus on, and nothing was better than war.

It just felt wrong, what had the thirteenth colony been other than a scapegoat.

A pair of slender arms wrapped themselves around the Vice-Admiral and she felt the sensual touch of her lovers full crimson lips trail kisses down her neck and shoulders. Helena relaxed into the embrace.

"You're troubled" Gina whispered into her ear, causing her to shiver "Is everything alright"

"Just a few things that I need to sort out" Helena replied, turning in her lovers embrace and began tracing kisses up her slender arm. Gina leaned back against the bulkhead, shivering on the cold surface.

"Another two hours before we're back on duty" Inviere replied, leaning forward and whispering into the shell of her ear "Any ideas on how to spend it?"

"Oh, I have a few" she replied and in one strong motion dragged her lover back down to the soft mattress, hearing her giggle as she traced kisses down her collar bone.

**A single change to the ship names, there was a slight misspelling of the **_**Arc Royal**__, _**it is actually called the **_**Ark Royal**_**. **


	4. Declaration

_**Chapter 3**_

_**Declaration**_

**3 Months Later**

**Alpha Centauri System**

A flash of light and the Battlestar _Solaria _appeared into the starry darkness, followed by two smaller _Valkyrie _Strike Battlestars, the _Ares_ and the _Sovereign_. Admiral Bass looked up from his morning coffee to the CIC command table and DRADIS displays, reading the empty radar with cautious eyes.

"Launch Raptors" he ordered, taking a sip of his coffee "Standard search pattern, if they find nothing then have them return so we can move on"

His xo nodded before relaying the order. The sudden chatter of pilots reporting that they had launched and were beginning their search filled the wireless. The old admiral slowly walked around the table, listening to the chatter, watching the displays for any sign of movement. His taskforce was further out than any Colonial had ever been, searching the deep blackness of space for a lost thirteenth colony.

The fleet had split into nine taskforces and spread out across the sector where the Earth ship had been sighted. When they found nothing they continued further, eventually leaving the sector and searching a wider area. They were now deep in uncharted territory, practically making history by mapping out the surrounding sectors of space.

After three months of searching Bass began to wonder if they would ever find Earth, their vessel was fairly advanced, they could have come from the other side of the galaxy. If so then the joke would be on them.

"Raptors are reporting no planets capable of supporting life in this system admiral" his xo reported "Three suns circling each other, each with their own assortment of planets, none are habitable"

"Very good" he replied absently "Bring the birds home so we can try the other system"

His xo nodded and gave the order for the Raptors to return. Bass sighed, if this continued then they would have to call off the search altogether. They only had enough supplies for another few weeks in deep space before they needed to return home again.

"Have our birds come home to roost?"

"They've landed and settled in sir"

"Prepare for FTL jump" he ordered "Set the timer"

"5…4…3…2…1…jump!"

One by one the three warships jumped away from the system, reappearing with a blinding flash in another star system, a system which showed more promise. The long range scanners showed a dozen bodies orbiting a normal sun, one, the third in the system showed signs of life.

"Launch Raptors" he ordered "I have a feeling we've found the place"

------

Colonel Steven Caldwell sat on his command chair listening to the normal sounds of work on the command bridge of his vessel. Caldwell was a veteran of the United States Air Force, it was his distinguished service record which got him this promotion as command of one of Earths new Battlecruisers, but to many he was also a hard and unbending individual, fiercely professional and willing to get the job done. That was the way the USAF Colonel liked it, to be a superior officer was to be strong and unyielding.

His ship, named the _Daedalus_, was the first of her class, and was one of three starships representing the United States, the others being the _Odyssey _and the _Apollo_. As well as these there were others under the banner of other major United Nation powers, the _Korolev _which signified Russia and the _Arc Royal _of Great Britain. The French and the Chinese were scheduled to have their own Cruisers, the _Bonaparte _and the _Sun Tzu_, both of whom were still under construction.

"Sir" his sensory officer reported "I'm getting readings on the outskirts of the system"

"Could just be a few asteroids" Caldwell replied before sighing "Take us out, lets have a look"

"Yes sir"

"And get me contact with Homeland security"

"Yes sir" his com officer replied, checking for them over the wireless before offering a thumbs up.

"Homeland security this is _Daedalus_" Caldwell spoke up.

"Go ahead _Daedalus_"

"We're getting some readings here on the outside of the system, going to check it out, are there any other ships in the vicinity to take our watch?"

"The Russians are testing modifications to the _Korolev_" control replied "Could ask them to take over for you till you return"

"Will do control, _Daedalus _out"

------

Colonel Chekov was a highly professional man, one only needed to look at his service record within the Russian Federation to see it. But even he had periods when he would let the mask slip "Da, da" he growled "Inform the good Colonel that we would be more than happy to take over for him!"

"Thank you sir" the woman on Homeland security replied before cutting the line, leaving the Russian to contemplate what he had heard.

"Damn Americans" he muttered in Russian, his second in command and immediate crew hearing him clearly "Can never do a job right without dragging us into it"

There was a chorus of chuckles from the crew before the Colonel raised a hand, silencing them "Take us to high orbit!"

------

This was it. The Raptors sensors corresponded with his Battlestars long range scans. It showed a Caprica like world, highly industrialised, approximate population in the billions, maybe hundreds of major settlements, thousands of smaller ones. Twenty five percent land, which in turn was surrounded by oceans. High radio chatter, so many that it was nearly impossible to pick it off.

It had to be Earth.

The only question was, where was their starships?

As he spoke a single red blip appeared on the DRADIS displays, causing warning sirens to blare through the CIC. Bass looked up at the displays, smiling to himself as one of his Raptors reported a vessel of the same type as the _Ark Royal _jump five thousand kilometres to stern.

"Gentlemen, it looks like we found what we were looking for!" he looked up at the DRADIS one more time before turning to his xo "Order the _Ares _to fire two long range ballistic missiles at the Earth ship, courtesy of the Colonial fleet"

"Yes sir"

The order was given and from the starboard flight pod of the _Area _two missiles flew from their launchers, trailing smoke as they were shot away towards the Battlecruiser. On the bridge of the _Daedalus _Colonel Caldwell saw the missiles come in and acted accordingly.

"Shields up" he ordered sharply "Evasive action"

The 304 peeled to port, but the incoming projectiles changed their trajectory accordingly, both slammed into the barrier, which rippled blue under the attack. A slight tremor went through the superstructure, but the USAF Colonel didn't pay it much mind.

"Shields down to eighty percent and holding steady"

"Open the missile bays, let's give them a return volley" Caldwell ordered "And get me the _Korolev_, kindly ask Chekov if he would give us some assistance"

Missiles bloomed out of the main missile launchers, four mock 8 tactical warheads. They tracked the opening volley, aiming for the silhouette of the Battlestar _Ares_. From the CIC of the _Solaria _Bass watched the return fire and quickly ordered the point defence guns of the Battlestar to create a flak blanket.

The point defence turrets of all three Battlestars came to life, firing sporadically into space, they exploded around the warships, blooming into the black smog of flak. The incoming missiles flew right into the flak field of the _Ares_, three were intercepted but the fourth broke through and hit its target. The mid dorsal section of the Battlestar erupted in blinding light which slowly dissipated, showing that the missile had burned away its armour to the inner layer.

The _Korolev _appeared then, coming up beside the _Daedalus _and flanking its sister ship. Together the two Battlecruisers released another volley of tactical warheads, once again aimed at the weakened _Valkyrie-class _Battlestar. Bass saw the new warship and gritted his teeth. Two would be a problem, if one could cripple a capital-ship like the _Pegasus _then two could possibly annihilate his forces. They were a search team, not an invasion force.

"Order a withdrawal" he ordered gruffly, leaning against the tactical table "We know where they are now, inform command that we have found the Thirteenth colony!"

The three Battlestars spooled up their FTL drives and escaped into their light jump, the _Ares _just missing the incoming missile barrage by a few seconds. From the bridges of both the _Daedalus _and the _Korolev _the two Colonels considered that it wasn't the last they saw of them, it would only be the beginning.

------

The Cylon's had not been heard from in forty years, since the end of the Cylon war they left the Twelve Colonies far behind. They settled on a new world, one of nitrogen and searing heat, so close to its sun that biological life could not survive. They transformed the world to one of metal, building deep underground labyrinths well into the planets crust.

In orbit around this world was a mass of orbital defences, platforms armed with missile launchers and carrying compliments of Raiders. The huge form of a shipyard could just be seen, with the skeletal forms of five incomplete Basestars berthed in its bays. Over two hundred new age Basestars were spread out across the system, the star shaped cruisers in constant patrol for any threat to their sanctuary.

Deep beneath the crust of the planets surface, under layers of thick armour was a simple circular chamber, and raised on a platform was a control centre, a broken ring shaped set of consoles. Standing within this ring was several people, seven in all, their hands pressed against the glass like surfaces, their eyes closed in complete concentration.

"This meeting of the seven Cylon copies is now in session" a Number one ordered, the old man looking at the other six in attendance, all chosen to be leaders of their respective model.

"As you all know three months ago the Colonial Battlestar _Pegasus _made contact with a starship claiming that it was from Earth, this ship called itself the _Ark Royal_" the Number six began "But thanks to quick thinking by one of my units we managed to make the Battlestar fire upon its counterpart. What followed was a short skirmish which the thirteenth colony won, even though its ship was much smaller than the _Pegasus_"

The other models nodded in agreement, waiting for her to continue "Similar reports from models throughout the Colonial Starfleet, as well as documentation from our Stealthstars has shown us that the Colonials had sent a large force to search for the thirteenth colony"

"Yes, we sent Basestars to shadow all of the taskforces" a Number two stated.

"A taskforce under Admiral Bass appears to have found the thirteenth colony" Six continued, a holographic image of the three Battlestars appeared, exchanging long range missile fire with two much smaller vessels "Our Basestar was able to confirm this when the Colonials opened fire on patrolling Earth vessels, a skirmish followed which ended with the Colonials being forced to withdraw"

"What are you getting at six" a Number eight asked impatiently.

"It's simple" six replied "The thirteenth has technology superior to that of its twelve cousins, but their ships are relatively few in number. The Basestar we stationed on the outskirts reported seeing five vessels of the same type as well as one smaller vessel we believe to be their flagship from com traffic"

"So we can still go ahead with our attack on the twelve colonies" a Number three asked.

"No" a Number seven stated "Because of this sudden group of incidents the Colonies are bringing their entire fleet to full alert, that means that they are putting their refitting program on hold indefinitely"

"This takes away our only advantage against the Colonials" the number one growled "It appears your agent acted rashly"

"Silence" Number two growled "Now is not the time to throw blame. We must come up with another plan"

"No need" Number four countered "The twelve are set to go to war with their lost tribe. We should just sit in the shadows and let them wipe each other out. Then we annihilate the winning side"

------

"Are we positive that it was them" the President of the United States asked as he stalked down the corridors of the SGC, a small mob of aides and guards following him like a shroud, Jack O'Neill was beside him, just barely keeping ahead of the tidal wave of officials.

"As far as we know sir" the Major General replied, quickly skipping through the pages of Caldwell's report, including loosely thrown in photographs of the Battlestars "They were of the same basic design as the _Pegasus_. They entered the system, scanned the area and proceeded to open fire on the _Daedalus_"

"Any casualties"

"No sir" Jack answered "But it would have been much worse if the Russians hadn't intervened"

"Of course they had to intervene, it's their world too" Henry Hayes had expected that his time as president of one of the strongest countries on Earth was going to be a tough one, considering the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and the deadlock of several key issues in the senate. But when he found out about the Stargate program and their secret war against alien forces who wished their annihilation he realised that the problems on Earth were fairly miniscule.

Now here he was, he had faced down the wrath of powerful Goa'uld system lords, kept it secret from the population that they were nearly wiped from the galaxy at least twice and having a hand in creating a United Nations IOA committee to give the other major powers of China, Russia, the fledgling European Union and most other countries a say in off world matters.

Now he has found out that they had just been fired upon by another group of humans, whose technology was impressive for a people who had developed on their own, without the oppression of the Goa'uld or the guiding hand of the Asgard.

"If this does go to war Jack, what should we do?"

The other man sighed "Well sir we can put our fleet on full alert, recall the _Apollo _and the _Odyssey _from Atlantis, speed up the construction of both the _Sun Tzu _and the _Bonaparte._ Contact both the Free Jaffa and the Asgard to see if they can spare some ships and keep a watch for these Twelve Colonies in case they decide to strike, oh and have someone with the ancient gene stationed at the Ancient outpost to use the chair"

"Do you think these Colonials will attack?" Hayes asked.

"They went to a lot of trouble to find us Henry" Jack replied "I think this is a prelude to an attack"

"Very well then" the President conceded "Do what you have to do Jack"

------

The central office of the President was in a state of controlled chaos, cleaners and aides scurried around the grandly decorated oak table, polishing the emblem of the united Twelve. In the back of the specious chamber were several camera crews, carefully performing back up checks of their equipment.

Three young women surrounded the President of the Twelve Colonies, steadily checking his appearance for the slightest imperfection before removing it. Richard Adar tilted his head to the side to allow his aide Jenna to apply a light covering of makeup, his eyes sneakily looking down at the red heads cleavage.

"Ten seconds Mr. President" his chief aide called from the back of the room, the aides around him scattered, but not before Adar could get a good look at the firm visage of Jenna's backside.

"5…4…3…2…1…your on!"

"My fellow Colonials, brothers and sisters of Kobol, I come before you this day with news which will shake the very foundations of our great civilisation" he paused for a moment, letting the atmosphere tense "The long lost thirteenth colony of Kobol, long thought lost to the ages and becoming legend has been found"

He imagined the collective gasps of the four billion on Caprica, and the untold billions which inhabited the other eleven worlds "That's right my brothers and sisters the long thought lost thirteenth has been found. Two months ago the Battlestar _Pegasus _encountered a vessel which identified itself as from Earth, this ship, the _Ark Royal _made our brave naval men and women think they came in peace, to join the Twelve Colonies and be reunited with their cousins"

"Alas it was not to be" he stated, breathing a theatrical sigh "For when the _Pegasus _launched a diplomatic team to begin negotiations with this vessel they were fired upon without just cause. The Earth ship disabled the _Pegasus_, killing over twenty two crew, nine pilots, three marines and the executive officer. Our forces immediately began a widespread search for the culprits, hoping to bring them to justice for this atrocious act!"

"We found the planet, Earth. Our forces arrived on this world only to come under attack by their warships. In the skirmish that followed the Battlestar _Ares _was moderately damaged but luckily gained no casualties" he slammed his fists into the table angrily "This is unacceptable, this act of cowardice, this unlawful slaughter of our men and women will not be tolerated. I have consulted with my advisors, both political and military and they have unanimously agreed. As of this moment I, Richard Adar, President of the Twelve Colonies declare war on Earth and any who choose to side with them!!!"

------

Picon had not seen such usage since the Cylon war, over thirty Battlestars and a hundred support vessels stood proud and menacing in high orbit. A total of eight _Mercury-class _Battlestars and twenty two _Galactica-class _with a hundred support ships ranging from smaller Strike and Escort ships, refuelling and supply ships had been assembled from across the Twelve Colonies.

"_At this very moment, over the Colonial headquarters of Picon a fleet of our mighty navy is gathering in numbers not seen since the Cylon war. In one strike we will stop our warlike lost tribe right here and show them the enlightening way of the Twelve Colonies!"_

"Turn it off"

"Yes ma'am"

Newly made Admiral Helena Cain rubbed the back of her neck and sighed tiredly, the president had demanded that his speech be heard throughout the fleet to boost morale, but from the looks of her CIC crew all it was doing was raising tensions. Her crew were no cowards, but their skirmish with the Earth ship had left them weary. The fact that it was them who fired the first shot made them wearier. But they had been sworn to secrecy under the shadow of dishonourable discharge.

"We've got Admiral Nagala on the line ma'am"

She sighed and nodded, waiting for the gruff old voice to crackle through the wireless "Admiral" she greeted steadily.

"Admiral" Nagala returned just as steadily "I take it you've heard the Presidents speech?"

"Yes sir"

"This is an important mission Cain" Nagala went on "A strategic first strike could break the thirteenth with the minimum of casualties. However you have full authorization for the use of nuclear weapons on the planets surface!"

Full nuclear authorization, the thought of it made her sick, blaming these people instead of admitting that the seemingly unbreakable onboard detection system had been successfully hacked into. That a Colonial ship had fired a shot upon their Earth cousin's vessel and gotten hammered because of it. As the months went by Cain realised something. The Admiralty wanted a war. They wanted some way to test their muscle.

She had heard of secret missions to try and provoke the Cylons into attacking a few years back, how one botched operation had caused one of the oldest and most capable Battlestar commanders to be quietly discharged from the frontline. She had written them off as simple conspiracy theories when she heard of them, but now she wasn't so sure.

"Do I make myself clear _Admiral_" Nagala repeated strictly when there was no immediate reply.

Cain gritted her teeth "Of course sir, full nuclear authorization"

"Very good" Nagala replied "You may begin this first and last major battle of this little war Admiral. It will all be over quickly" with that he broke off the communication, leaving the promoted Admiral with a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

One by one the ships of the fleet jumped away from the orbit of Picon, and within two minutes the last vessel jumped away. Their destination was Earth. Their mission was to neutralise them as a threat and prepare the way for ground forces.

------

_**3 Months Later**_

_**Sol System**_

A hyperspace window opened and the _Odyssey _appeared over the orbit of Earth, followed a few moments later by the _Apollo_. Both vessels had been recalled from operations against the Wraith in the Pegasus Galaxy. Ahead of the two Battleships was the smaller form of the _Prometheus_, guarded by every other _Daedalus-class _Battlecruiser in service, the _Korolev_, the _Daedalus _and the _Ark Royal _flanked the older command vessel, forming with the Strike Cruiser the points of a diamond.

The _Prometheus _was the very first of her kind, the first attempt by the Tau'ri to create a space worthy warship to battle the threat of the Goa'uld. Even though she was now considered obsolete by the newer generation its service record, its crew's reputation and its status as a symbol kept it in the steadily growing fleet. Plus the fact that the current director of Homeland Security, Major General Jack O'Neill fought tooth and nail for it to remain as the flagship even though most of his piers frowned upon it.

Another hyperspace window opened and the familiar form of a Ha'tak took its place alongside the Tau'ri vessels. The representative of the Free Jaffa had arrived with the answer to their request for support. At six hundred meters long a Ha'tak was a formidable looking vessel. A huge platform surrounding a central, pyramid shaped command structure. This structure held all of the main components including the command centre and glider bay. She was armed with staff cannons and naquadah bombs as well as a medium strength shielding for protection.

In the main meeting hall of the _Prometheus _all of the starship commanders were gathering, Colonel Abraham Ellis of the _Apollo_ and Colonel Ian Davidson of the _Odyssey _teleported into the room, joining fellow starship commanders Colonel Chekov, Winchester and Caldwell. At the head of the table was Jack O'Neill. A few more seconds passed before the last member of the meeting made his appearance.

He appeared on the bridge in a flash of brilliant blue light, a tall man garbed in cream coloured robes with gold trim. His dark skin showing the golden engraved tattoo of his former Goa'uld master before he rebelled, Jack rose from his chair, a smile on his face.

"Teal'c old buddy" he greeted happily, slapping him on the shoulder.

"It's good to see you O'Neill" the big man returned with a slight bow and a smile of his own.

"So you're the Vice-Minister of the Free Jaffa Nation" Jack said, still holding his smile.

"Indeed, I have come to give you the reply for reinforcements" Teal'c replied "We are still consolidating our forces, our fleet and army is spread thin at the moment, but I have managed to convince the council to loan you seven Ha'taks with full Death-glider and Al'kesh compliment"

"That nearly doubles our defensive capabilities" Ellis stated.

"Its good news" Caldwell added.

"Any word from our Asgard friends yet" Davidson asked.

"None, they have not answered hails"

"Not surprising with their current state" Winchester said "Their forces were badly beaten by the Replicators, it was one of the main reasons that they gave us the beam cannon and named us the fifth race, because they no longer had the power to watch over their protectorate"

"When can the Jaffa fleet arrive" O'Neill asked.

"Within the hour O'Neill"

------

The _Voyager I _was one of the oldest deep space probes ever launched from Earth's surface, with sensory and thrust technology considered state of the art at the time. Its mission was to explore and catalogue deep space, even though now, nearly three decades after its launch it had barely made it to the perimeter of the Sol system.

Now the small probe was considered obsolete with the founding of the Stargate program, creation of F-302 starfighters, _Prometheus _and later _Daedalus-class _Battlecruisers it was barely given a glance by NASA or any other planetary space centre. It was just another satellite in deep space.

Its sensory equipment still worked however, continuously scanning the expanse around it for signs of life, mapping out the vastness of space beyond the star system. Something appeared on its sensors, many things appeared on its sensors. A shadow befell the old probe. The last thing the _Voyager I _was able to send back to Earth was the small ball of a kinetic energy discharge from one of the many defensive guns of the Battlestar _Pegasus._

Onboard the flagship Helena Cain watched as the small red blip vanished from her DRADIS screens, followed by a message from her sensory officer that the early warning probe had been successfully destroyed. She sighed before picking up the corded phone to the fleet.

"All forces this is Admiral Cain, the enemy is one jump away, it is more than likely that they will be expecting us" she hesitated for a moment, her mind telling her to say something more to those under her command "Good hunting!"


	5. Armageddon: Pt I

_**Chapter 4**_

_**Armageddon**_

_**Pt I**_

They arrived with an unnerving silence. Just outside of the gravity well of Mars a total of one hundred and thirty warships came into existence in a mass of blindingly bright flashes. The thirty Battlestars formed up into their squadrons immediately, forming in three ship v-formations. Smaller escort squadrons of starships in turn forming around them.

Helena Cain watched the mass of green dots on the DRADIS displays as they formed into their assigned units. The thirty capital-ships made up a full fifth of the combined fleet of the Twelve Colonies. Her flagship, the _Pegasus _was at the head, flanked by the _Galactica-class _Battlestars _Nemesis _and _Demeter_.

"All thirty Battlestars, sixty escort frigates, twenty troop transports, ten trillium carriers and ten supply vessels all reporting in ma'am" her new xo Jack Fisk reported from beside her.

Cain nodded before turning back to the main control table, continuing to gauge the long range DRADIS displays. They were still well out of range to be able to see Earth's orbital defences "Call the Battlestars _Nemesis_, _Demeter _and the defence squadron. We're going in alone"

"Ma'am?"

"I'm not going to start a war which will kill millions without trying to avert it" she growled "Call the squadron and tell the rest of the fleet to keep their distance until called for"

"Of course ma'am" Fisk relented, that was why she ascended Fisk to the rank of Executive Officer. He was a professional man who tried to fulfil the orders of his commander to the letter, without question.

"Good, prepare to execute an FTL jump to their moon, just within their communications range yet outside of weapons range"

The three Battlestars left the armada, their four escort frigates keeping in formation around them. When they were a thousand kilometres from the rest of the fleet they spooled up their FTL drives and jumped further into the system. Reappearing with seven blinding flashes of light right beside Earth's moon.

Cain looked out to see the blue and green orb stretch out among them, a beautiful creation of vast seas and multicoloured lands representing savannahs, plains, deserts, snow fields, cities, mountains and dense forests. It was beautiful in her eyes, and she would like to avoid seeing this seemingly tranquil world blemished by the mushroom clouds of nuclear impacts.

"It's beautiful"

She turned to see Gina standing beside her, dressed in the simple jumpsuit of her work. Since the rework on the fleet had been put on hold she had been reassigned, with the Admirals expressed wish, to her maintenance and engineering crews. The blonde looked into her lovers dark eyes, gauging the Admirals response before she even opened her mouth.

"Yes it is" Helena agreed "And I would like to see to it that it remains that way"

"We are within maximum communications range ma'am" Jack reported, casting a slightly suspicious glance at Gina.

"Thank you Fisk" she said before picking up the corded phone by her command table "Broadcast this on all radio frequencies"

------

"What have we got?"

Major Henry Marks, head technician and co-pilot looked up from his station to see the current director of Homeworld security stalk into the bridge and practically jump into the command chair.

"Contacts sir" the Major replied, bringing his attention back to his tactical displays "Seven of them have just jumped in orbit around the moon"

Henry Marks was one of several people who had been on the _Prometheus _since her first real battle against Anubis and his fleet. Because of this he was one of a select few people that Jack O'Neill trusted outside of his own former SG team.

A holographic image sprang to life just before the viewport, showing a view of the moon from several thousand kilometres out. Sitting in high orbit was the huge bulky forms of three capital-ships, easily over a mile long each and bristling with enough firepower to glass a world. Surrounding these behemoths were four much smaller vessels at perhaps five hundreds meters in length each, but like their cousins they too were bristling with weapon emplacements, from those clusters of advanced rail-guns covering their hulls to missile launchers on their flight pods.

"Are they moving?"

"Negative sir" Marks said "Wait, we're getting a transmission over radio frequencies"

"Put it on" O'Neill ordered "Bounce the transmission to the white house"

"Yes sir"

Static enveloped the bridge as Marks worked tirelessly to gain the necessary radio channels. Slowly a voice scratched its way through the interference. It was a woman's voice, one which commanded absolute authority and demanded everyone's attention.

"_To the people of Earth, this is Admiral Helena Cain of the Colonial Fleet. By the will of the people of the Twelve Colonies you are to stand down your defence forces and be ready for complete transition of power from your fractured societies to that of the unified Twelve Colonies of Kobol"_

O'Neill leaned to the side and whispered to Marks, yet it was loud enough for the entire command crew to hear it "Is she for real?"

------

The president of the United States listened to the demands of the Colonial fleet over the loudspeakers of the oval office, his personal council of military leaders and politicians sitting in the armchairs and couches which furnished one of the most well known rooms in the free world.

He wasn't alone, across the world fellow leaders of the most powerful and influential nations on Earth were hearing this broadcast as was everything else, from the United nations of the European Union to the Russian Federation, the Peoples Republic of China, Australia, India, Japan, only to name a few.

There was no way too dampen or intercept the transmission, it was taking over every radio, television set and communications satellite in the world. For a moment the President pondered on the type of civil unrest which would take place from this message. There was no way that their cover story was going to cut it, a meteor shower was not going to be a good enough excuse for the radio transmission.

"Well gentlemen, it looks like our worst fears have been realised" he sighed tiredly "And this seems to be a threat bigger than even the one posed by Anubis, in numerical terms at least. What condition are we in if this comes to an all out conflict?"

At that moment one of his joint chiefs stood from his place on an armchair. Dressed in the full dress uniform of a General in the United States Air Force, General Maynard was a tall and imposing man of African-American descent who had fought in the worst years of the Vietnam War. It was this reason why the president had appointed him to his staff, that and the fact that he was an old friend. Hayes had been in Vietnam too.

"The Home fleet are all in orbit and on full tactical alert, if the enemy comes they will give them hell, the Russian and the British have pledged the support of their X-304 Battlecruisers if it comes to a battle" he began "Major General O'Neill assures me that the Free Jaffa fleet know their roles and will give us their unanimous support"

"What about groundside?"

"The Army, Navy and Air force are all on DEFCON two and just waiting for the order to launch. Nearly five hundred F-18 Hornets and F-22 Raptors are fuelled and armed with another three hundred being prepped as we speak" Maynard replied "Our full planet based contingent of two hundred F-302's are likewise fuelled and ready, all we need is the word sir"

"We all know that the Colonial fleet will break through our Home fleet sir" General Douglas stated "It's just a matter of time"

"I agree Tom" the President replied, like many of the other men in this room Douglas was about the same age and although he hadn't fought in Vietnam like Maynard and himself he had taken part in the first Gulf War "Seven Earth ships and another seven Ha'taks will not hold a hundred enemy warships at bay, some will eventually break through, its just a question of when…what about our allies, what condition are they in"

"As you know the air forces of Russia, India, China and the European Union are in a similar state to us. From what my European counterpart has told me the British, German, French, Spanish and Italian air forces are prepped and ready as well as their own squadrons of F-302's. The Indian air force is likewise fuelled and ready as are the Japanese, Australian, New Zealander and South Korean air forces"

"The main problem is nuclear attack from orbit"

"We have the chair in Antarctica and enough drones to protect from that"

"But not enough to completely destroy them"

"Let's keep the drones as a last line" Hayes stated "A surprise in case they do launch nukes at us" he then winced as the Colonial message came over the loudspeakers again, this time with less patience "It looks like I'm gonna have to answer"

The entire room went eerily silent as the president picked up his red telephone, giving him a direct link to the wavelength of the Colonial signal, the Area 51 technicians had assured him that with the extra boost it would work "To the Colonial fleet, this is Henry Hayes, President of the United States of America, can you hear me?"

"_We can mister President"_ the woman's voice responded over both the phone and the loudspeakers _"I am Admiral Cain, commanding officer of the Colonial fleet, are you the leader of this world?"_

"I am but one of many" Hayes replied "I have been appointed as the head negotiator" it was true, although him being the man to communicate with them had been the question of hot debate at the emergency world summit three months ago. It came down to the European, American, Indian and Japanese delegates nearly getting into a fistfight against the Russians and Chinese. After nearly three hours of tense argument they had finally backed down.

"_Then you will send this proposal to them mister President"_ Cain ordered with conviction _"Your fleet in orbit will stand down, as will all of your planetary defences. You will prepare to be inaugurated into the Twelve Colonies as the Thirteenth" her voice softened slightly "I would like to get this done with as little bloodshed as possible mister President, I implore you to accept"_

The president sighed into the phone "Admiral, I thank you for your attempt at negotiation but we will not bow down. We value our independence above everything else, and we will not simply lie down and allow ourselves to be conquered, especially by a people who fired upon a ship under a flag of truce. I implore you Admiral, go home, andlet's not start a pointless war"

"_I'm afraid I can't do that mister President" _Cain replied _"My orders are clear and simple, as an officer of the fleet I must follow them, please, will you surrender?"_

"We will not"

The com was silent for what seemed like an eternity before Cain spoke again, and her voice was apologetic _"Then we have no choice, by the will of the Gods of Kobol and the right of the Twelve Colonies we will find and nullify all threats. Good day mister president"_

The voice on the loudspeakers were replaced by static, the president put down the phone and fell into his leather chair, he turned to his advisors "Launch everything" he whispered hoarsely "We're going to DEFCON one"

------

"Director O'Neill" Marks said suddenly "Their advanced forces are moving!"

Jack looked up to see the approaching warships. Seven became thirty in quick succession, flashes of light signalling their arrival. Marks confirmed it. Nine Battlestars and twenty one escort vessels were lumbering past the Earths moon towards their home and the six starships of the Home Fleet poised to defend it.

"Full combat alert" O'Neill ordered "Prep rail-guns and missiles, raise shields, launch F-302's and get the beam cannons online!"

"Yes sir"

"We've got the president on the line sir"

He nodded for the communiqué to be let through "Mister President"

"_Negotiations have failed"_

"I thought as much"

"_I have just got confirmation from all other world leaders. Jack you are to repel them through the use of deadly force, defend Earth at all costs"_

"Yes sir"

"_Good luck" _he wished before cutting the line.

Jack sat back in his chair, blowing out a puff of air. For a moment he was still. Then he leaned forward "Beam cannons?"

"Fully charged"

"Fire"

------

The main beam cannons of the Battlecruisers opened fire with tremendous velocity. Each _Daedalus-class _Battlecruiser was fitted with four Asgard plasma beam cannons, positioned on ramparts on their frontal sections. To the approaching Vipers the small flotilla of warships were illuminated by blinding flashes of blue light, blue light which shot through their ranks, turning nearly a dozen of their number into blooms of flame and debris.

The lances continued on unhindered until they struck the vanguard of Colonial starships. One plasma beam punctured through the left flight pod of a _Valkyrie _Battlestar, the resulting explosion annihilated the pod, pieces of debris puncturing the main body of the escort vessel. Another suffered worse, the beam lancing straight through its centre and exited from the rear engine nacelles, it sparked, then exploded, taking a dozen Vipers and Raptors with it.

Helena Cain looked up in surprise as the vanguard escorts _Damocles _and _Gemini _winked off the DRADIS displays. A second later by her communications officer, a pretty red headed girl named Carmen reported that the two _Valkyrie _had been destroyed.

Incensed she slammed her fists into the command table, gaining the attention of her crew.

It was Fisk who spoke "Ma'am, your orders"

"Order all Battlestars to launch missiles" she growled "Viper attack squadrons have a go to intercept!"

"Yes ma'am"

The eight _Galactica-class _Battlestars and _Pegasus _launched their opening volley of missiles in response to the pre-emptive strike of the defenders. Dozens of Mk 6 ballistic missiles launched from the frontal torpedo tubes, their launches signified by a mass of smoke trails. The missiles were followed by the first wave of Vipers.

------

"Two escorts destroyed, three damaged sir" Marks reported "They are returning fire!"

"Arm point defence rail-guns, order fighter squadrons to intercept" O'Neill ordered briskly.

The _Prometheus _and her six escorting Battlecruisers turned, bringing their broadsides and the majority of their rail-guns to bear on the approaching missile barrage. From the hangers came the F-302 fighter squadrons, sixteen from each _Daedalus_ and another eight from the flagship. Altogether eleven squadrons of space superiority fighters came forth.

Leading the _Prometheus _squadron was Lieutenant Colonel Cameron Mitchell, new commander of SG-1 and a seasoned F-302 pilot with combat experience in the Battle of Antarctica against Anubis.

The squadron leader looked out through his canopy at his fellow F-302's. He had been selected to train the new recruits when they heard of the impending invasion. They were all seasoned pilots of the USAF, each with at least thirty combat missions. That's how it was. You needed to be a veteran to be initiated in the program.

"Fang leader to Fang flight" he spoke through the squadron frequency "Stay tight and stay alert, one shot one kill!"

There was a snort over the com which could only be one person, his wingman, or more accurately woman "We're not rookies _Shaft_"

Cameron smiled "I know _Raven_, just the old pep talk, you know, like what every squadron leader does"

Major Jessica 'Raven' Fletcher, a USAF pilot with nearly ten years flight experience. She had been selected for the F-302 program along with Cameron and was lucky enough to come out of the battle over Antarctica unscathed, unscathed and with two kills under her belt.

There was a series of chuckles over the rest of the squadron, followed by Raven herself "Well don't, we're all good enough to lead our own squadrons, don't worry Cam we'll get the job done"

There was a series of clicks of agreement over the com "Alright, alright I get it"

"Incoming missiles" one of his pilots reported.

"Right Fangs" Mitchell started "Let's take these bad boys out. Split into your units and pick a target"

The eight F-302's split into groups of two and dived down towards the incoming mass of projectiles. Cameron with Raven flying a little to his right chose a target and squeezed the trigger. A two second blast of fire from his fighters two nose mounted rail-guns pierced the body of the missile, followed by an explosion as it detonated.

"Right that's one down" he stated.

"Nearly a hundred to go" Jessica replied.

Mitchell ignored his friend's assertion, but instead came in behind another missile, targeted it and released a three second barrage from the cannons. The tracers punctured it, causing the rocket to bloom as it detonated.

"Cam behind you!" the veteran brought his fighter into a barrel roll, narrowly missing a barrage of tracer rounds. He twisted his head in time to see a small ship zip by. He recognised it from the _Ark Royal _reports "Vipers!"

His surprise rose, the Viper executed a seemingly impossible spin as it passed, doing a full hundred and eighty degrees at what should have been breakneck speeds, it faced him, he could see the barrels of its machine guns. A missile slammed into the cockpit and turned it into a ball of flame and debris, and Ravens F-302 flew through the wreckage.

Cam breathed a sigh before turning on the com "_Prometheus _this is Fang leader. We've got enemy fighters incoming, looks like their hiding behind the smoke of their missiles!"

"Roger that Fang leader" a silky feminine voice replied.

"Thanks Raven, I owe you"

"I know, buy me a drink after this is over"

"You bet"

Heavy rail-gun fire lit up the darkness as the Battlecruisers opened fire upon the approaching missiles, several dozen turned into burning blooms of fire. Each _Daedalus _Battlecruiser was armed with thirty two rail-guns, each capable of holding over ten thousand rounds of explosive ammunition. The _Prometheus _herself was armed with just twenty four, but that was still enough to give any approaching fighters pause.

Panicked voices blared through the com, becoming an almost inconceivable mess of noise. The Vipers had ambushed the _Korolev _fighter squadrons.

"Form up and dive in!"

Wordlessly Fang squadron formed up and dived down towards one of several skirmishes breaking out between the two fleets.

------

Jack watched as missiles jetted forth from the abyss, and where quickly intercepted by fire from the main rail-guns of the Tau'ri fleet. The missiles were numerous, and the odd one got through the flak field of defensive fire and struck the shield, but the impacts only shaved off a few percent, not causing anymore than a slight tremor to the vessels structure.

"Beam cannons?"

"Still charging sir" Marks replied "It will take another five or ten minutes before they gain enough power for a killing blow"

O'Neill looked at the head technician with a frown "Yeah you see is it five or is it ten, there's a huge difference"

"Six"

"Six?"

"Yes sir, six minutes!"

"There, see, that wasn't hard" the Director replied before another slight tremor assaulted his ships structure, he turned to Marks.

"Another missile has struck the shield, down to seventy eight percent"

"Right I've had it with this cat and mouse game" O'Neill growled "Order the fleet to prepare the hyperdrives for a little spin!"

"Where too sir" Marks asked in confusion.

"Where too" the Major General copied with a groan "Right in the middle of that fleet is where, let's give them a wake up call they'll never forget!"

Marks grinned "Yes sir"

"Order the _Ark Royal _and the _Odyssey _to remain behind as our last line"

"They won't like that"

"Just do it"

------

Commander Chekov growled as another missile struck his cruisers shields, trimming them down by another few percent. It was then that his head technician sitting in the chair to his right gave him a message.

Chekov looked over his shoulder and read the message, a smile spreading across his face, he shook his head "That man is either stupid, or a genius"

------

"_Korolev, Daedalus _and _Apollo _are ready to go sir" Marks reported.

"Excellent" O'Neill replied with a grin "Prepare for hyperspace jump, open up that damned window!"

The four warships disappeared through their hyperspace windows, to the incoming Vipers and Raptors it seemed that two thirds of the Earth fleet simply vanished into thin air. Barely five seconds passed before they reappeared, right in front of the advancing colonial fleet.

The four Battlecruisers opened fire as they passed through the vanguard of Colonial ships, riddling the armoured hulls with heavy rail-gun fire.

The _Daedalus _riddled the dorsal axis of a _Galactica _Battlestar with fire, the blasts burning through the hull. The barrage was followed by three missiles from its ventral launcher, which struck the rear engines of the mammoth warship. The Battlestar vanished in a bright light.

The _Apollo _and _Korolev _raked up similar kills, each one aiming for a capital-ship before they entered hyperspace. When they exited they followed their sister ships example and took out another two _Galactica _Battlestars with quick precision, peppering their hulls with heavy fire before letting loose a volley of missiles to finish the job.

The _Prometheus _followed suit, but with a smaller _Valkyrie _Battlestar, using its twenty four rail-guns to pummel the armoured hull, before finishing the smaller escort off with a trio of new Tomahawk Mk X missiles directly to the rear engines as she passed.

To the Colonial commanders an entire squadron of Battlestars winked from existence, followed by the four red blips of the Earth fleet.

"We've lost the Battlestars _Zeus, Apex _and _Eris_"

Helena Cain could only look at the DRADIS displays in shock before turning to her com officer "Flak fields" she whispered "Order all Battlestars to spread out and proceed with defensive protocol!"

"Yes ma'am"

"Order the entire fleet to enter the battle"

"Yes ma'am"

"And contact the appropriate ship commanders. Tell them to begin the operation!"

------

"Commander Ronin. We've just gained the go ahead by Admiral Cain"

Marcus Ronin looked up from his command table and smiled "Well know, it's about time. Contact the Battlestars _Alpheus, Hades _and _Capricorn_. Tell them and their escorts that we are moving!"

"Yes Commander" his xo replied with a smirk "For the gods of Kobol"

Ronin smirked and raised his hand "For the gods of Kobol"

In orbit around Mars the main fleet of Colonial warships vanished in a mass of blinding flashes, leaving behind the Tylium ships, troop transports and three _Valkyrie _Battlestars to defend them.

All except for a _Mercury-class _Battlestar, three _Galactica _and eight _Valkyrie_, the twelve warships veered away from the convoy of support craft, the four capital-ships forming into a diamond formation with their eight escorts forming into an octagon. When they were in position they waited.

Ronin looked at his watch, waited three minutes, and ordered the taskforce to jump.

------

Colonel Winchester watched as the numbers of the Colonial fleet shot up from the twenty three surviving warships to over fifty warships. The four Earth starships pulled away from their attack runs, climbing away from the swelling fleet just as they fired a volley of hundreds of missiles and kinetic weapon batteries. Masses of black flak surrounded the Battlestars as they defended themselves.

"Damn it they need help" Richard growled.

"We can't leave our post son" Davidson cautioned "No matter how much we want to we can't go"

"Bloody hell"

"Not to worry son" the older Colonel replied "They aren't alone"

Winchester waited, and his relief was felt as the Jaffa fleet appeared through three hyperspace windows, three thousand meters above the battle. The seven Ha'taks formed into a battle line and opened fire with their main staff cannons. To the Viper squadrons it looked like golden rain was falling on their carriers.

Two main Battlestars took the brunt of the bombardment. One took a mass of plasma to the centre of its spine, burning through the armour and into the interior, striking its ammunition stockades with devastating results. The explosion sent a shockwave in every direction, pushing its support frigates away.

With the element of surprise gone the Jaffa fleet split up, using their impressive manoeuvrability to stay a step ahead from the Colonials impressive return fire, Al'kesh bombers and Death-Gliders left the motherships bays on mass, diving towards the now panicked fleet.

------

Cain looked up at her DRADIS displays for what seemed like the fiftieth time to see two of her rearguard Battlestars wink off the map, followed up by a report that they had been completely destroyed. Other reports from panicked Viper wings came flooding in, bringing news that a new group of starships had joined the battle.

"They aren't Earth ships!" one sputtered.

"They're like pyramids surrounded by platforms"

"Are they a new Earth fleet" Cain asked hurriedly.

"No Admiral" another replied "Not unless they drastically changed their ship designs!"

"Admiral" her communications officer reported "We're being hailed, all frequencies"

"Put it through" she ordered.

Static enveloped the bridge, making several members of the CIC twitch, finally a voice broke through, clear and stoic _"To the ships of the Colonial fleet, I am Teal'c, Vice-Minister of the Free Jaffa Nation"_

"I am Helena Cain, Admiral of the Colonial fleet" she replied into the corded phone.

"_You are to cease all hostilities with the Tau'ri and withdraw from this system immediately, failure to do so will invoke the wrath of the Free Jaffa!"_

"So you are an alien"

"_Indeed, and I am but one of many, failure to cease hostile actions will result in war with our two nations" _there was a brief pause before he spoke again, his voice hiding a note of venom "_And it is not a war we intend to lose!"_

The channel returned to static as the Vice-Minister cut the channel, the next words the stunned Admiral heard was from Fisk, who was still watching the DRADIS displays. The new cluster of seven red blips seemed to shed.

"Fighters launching"

"All reserve Viper squadrons intercept!" Fisk roared.

"Order the fifth fleet-squadron to bring their broadsides to bear on the new ships" Cain ordered "Sixth is to support, the rest concentrate fire on the Earth ships!"

The Colonial fleet recovered quickly, with six Battlestars and twelve support ships breaking off to intercept the Jaffa fleet and the rest pushing on against the harrying Earth Battlecruisers, finally it seemed that the continuous punishment was starting to make headway. One of the Battlecruisers got caught in a hail of kinetic energy fire from two Battlestars. The combined fire caused their shields to flicker, their weakened form no longer able to deflect the incoming fire.

------

Jack heard it first "_This is Caldwell, our shields can't hold much longer!"_

"Pull back now _Daedalus_" Jack ordered "_Korolev, Apollo, _what's your status?"

"_Shields have been halved sir"_ Ellis responded over the com _"We lost half of our rail-gun ammunition and two thirds of our missiles!"_

"_Our shields are down to twenty six percent" _Chekov added, an explosion on his channel seemed to add weight to his statement _"We've just lost long range sensors!"_

"_O'Neill this is Teal'c" _the Jaffa leader called over the com _"Pull your ships back now!"_

The Director watched as the _Daedalus _did a swooping half circle, just getting out of the firing line of the two capital-ships she was exchanging fire with, yet the salvoes of Colonial fire continued to strike its shields, witling them down. It was a trio of ballistic missiles that finally destroyed the shields.

"Damn it Caldwell, get the hell out of there!" Jack shouted.

A missile got lucky, striking the portside hanger pod with enough power too punch a hole through the armour. The force behind the blow caused the Battlecruiser to go into a sudden spin, making her a sitting duck for the two Battlestars chasing her.

Jack shouted "Get the transporters trained on her now, try and save as many people as you can!"

"Yes sir"

"Missile launchers" he continued "Aim for the Battlestars, fire a complete salvo when we're in range!"

"Yes sir"

The _Prometheus _broke off from her duel with two escorts and flew towards its dying sister ship, its rail-gun emplacements firing at will upon the Vipers and Raptors harrying the larger warship. When the _Daedalus _died it made him feel a chill run up his spine, he knew that there would be casualties, but didn't believe it.

It was a nuclear missile that finished the job, launched from the lead Battlestar, it soared past the crippled warships point defences, striking the belly of the Battlecruiser, a blinding flash followed and the first 304 of her line became nothing more than a burnt out husk. Fractured armour and debris blew in every direction, berthed by unnatural flames.

Gritting his teeth he looked over to Marks, waiting for his report.

"We managed to teleport thirty five people off the _Daedalus _before she went sir" he reported solemnly.

"Caldwell"

The Major looked up at him, shaking his head in resignation "Afraid not sir"

"Damn it" he growled before looking at the Battlestar that gave the killing blow "Missiles?"

"Prepped sir"

"Fire all"

The flagship seemed to explode as missiles launched from every launcher, nearly twenty in all zoomed towards the enemy capital-ship. In return the Colonial warships flak field seemed to intensify, waiting for the incoming barrage. Vipers zoomed at the missiles, picking off six of them before they reached the flak field, another four were intercepted by the Battlestars point defence systems.

Ten made it through, three struck the starboard flight pod, burning through the heavy armour and punching holes, another six peppered the spine, and one struck the mammoth engine nacelles. A series of detonations began from the engines, destroying half of the warship and leaving it dead in space.

"Beam cannons" O'Neill growled "Target the other one!"

------

The battle seemed to intensify all the time, the arrival of the Jaffa Ha'taks had stunned the Colonial fleet, but their numerical superiority continued to show. Two fleet squadrons broke off from the main group and brought their broadsides to bear on the Jaffa warships.

The Ha'taks were met by an almost biblical hail of weapons fire, which peppered their shields, forcing them to break their formation and perform evasive manoeuvres. Like the 304's they had shields, but unlike the Battlecruisers they weren't Asgard calibre, they were weaker and could not withstand the same punishment for nearly as long.

Teal'c gritted his teeth as another conduit exploded above his head, showering down sparks. His cruiser had been in the centre of the formation, and so had been the main target for the breaking off Colonial taskforce.

"Report" he ordered, his voice as stoic as it ever was.

One of his fellow Jaffa brothers, a tall man dressed in silver battle-armour with the symbol of Baal etched into his forehead looked over at him from the defence conduit, his features were indifferent "Our shields are down to seventy percent"

"Evade the barrage" Teal'c ordered swiftly, his old memories as the First Prime of Apophis returning to him "Slide us to port and fire all available staff cannons, aim for their escorts"

The Ha'tak soared sideways out of the kinetic weapon barrage, its staff cannons flaring as it disgorged wave upon wave of golden plasma at the attacking Colonial warships.

It was then that he noticed several flashes in the distance and brought up a holographic image to see the source. His eyes widened. There were four of those large battleships, plus eight smaller ones settling into Earth orbit, setting free swarms of fighters into the planets atmosphere and firing at will upon the two _Daedalus _Battlecruisers in the rearguard.

------

Winchester didn't know how he knew that something was wrong. He did not know where the sinking feeling in his stomach was coming from. All that he knew was when he got these feelings lives usually hung in the balance, so he acted upon them.

"Evasive manoeuvres" he ordered "Bring us hard to port and swing us around, bring the rail-guns online and prep beam cannons!"

"Sir" his pilot looked over at him questioningly, but he ad no time to explain.

"Just do it soldier" he snapped.

"Yes sir"

"And contact the _Odyssey_, inform Davidson to do the same!"

Just then alarms blared through the bridge, the radar operator looked at his displays and went into a panic "Missile barrage incoming!"

"Where"

"Behind us"

The _Ark Royal _broke formation just in time, its rail-gun emplacements spewing explosive rounds at any missile that was targeting them. Explosions lit up the eternal night sky as rockets were hit and detonated prematurely. The _Odyssey _followed its sister ships manoeuvres, but it was too slow and several missiles impacted against the USAF Battlecruisers shields.

The Colonel looked at Earth and felt his stomach sink. There were twelve warships in orbit, launching masses of Vipers and Raptors into the atmosphere. Missiles were being released from torpedo and missile launcher tubes, most likely aimed at military targets over North America.

"Turn us around" he almost shouted "Get those bloody beam cannons online now!!!"

* * *

Phew, that has been completed, this must be the longest chapter I have ever done, I hope that you all enjoy it and review on your opinions. As always reviews are welcome, constructive criticism is appreciated and flames will rot in the bottomless pits of hell

Now a new thing that I have been considering for some time, questions and answers, in this slot I will listen to any questions made and try to answer them as best I can. Note that not all of these are questions and I will be talking about other writers ideas as well.

Ok here I go.

Q: Superiority of the Tau'ri to the Colonials

A: The Tau'ri may be superior to the Twelve Colonies in terms of technology, but that's about it. The Colonials have an incredible numerical advantage to Earth forces and several commanders would not use tactics like beaming nukes into fellow human ships, at least not until they are provoked enough to do it.

Q: What happened to the 304 Battlecruiser _General Hammond _aka _Phoenix?_

A: In my timeline it isn't under construction yet, this story is set well before the end of Stargate Atlantis. It may make an appearance later on though.

Q: Why not place shields on the F-302's?

A: A good idea and one I will think long and hard about.

Q: How many warships does Earth have right now?

A: Six, the _Prometheus, Ark Royal, Daedalus, Korolev, Odyssey _and the _Apollo_. Two more are under construction and a few more are in the works.

Q: How are you going to handle the outcome of the new BSG series?

A: As good as the end of the series is, lets just forget about the fourth series onwards for this one ok

And that concludes the first questions and answers session, I hope that my answers are too your liking. If anyone has any further questions add it into the review panel.

Oh and I noticed a lot of my Two Galaxy's Saga readers are paying attention to this as well, stay alert for a teaser chapter for my next series. May the Force be with you, the Emperor Protects…So say we all! lol


	6. Armageddon: Pt II

_**Chapter 5**_

_**Armageddon**_

_**Pt II**_

The _Ark Royal _was first to bring her weapons to bear on the Colonial flotilla, firing a salvo of six missiles towards the closest vessel. Flak cannons rose up in response to the return fire from the twelve Battlestars, covering the heavily armoured behemoths with layers of black cloud.

From his command chair Richard Winchester, Group Captain of the Royal Air Force and first British commander to command a DSC-304 leaned forward in his command chair, his face the stoic mask of a veteran soldier "We can't use the beam cannons when Earth is right behind them!"

"Then what do we do sir"

"Its obvious" he growled back "We change our position, get us above them"

The _Ark Royal _banked into a steep climb, its shields burning blue as kinetic discharges impacted harmlessly off it. Behind the Battlecruiser was its sister ship, the _Odyssey_, firing its thirty six rail guns at will against incoming missile strikes, but the rail guns weren't designed to offer the kind of protection Colonial flak fields were capable off, and occasionally the odd missile broke through and impacted the shields.

Ian Davidson, commander of the _Odyssey _and Colonel in the United States Air Force saw the younger commander and immediately knew his plan, grinning he ordered his warship to follow suit. The two Battlecruisers stayed in formation, firing salvoes of missiles towards the Battlestars.

Streaks of smoke showed missile positions and flashes of light as they were intercepted by flak fields or by one of the few Viper units to remain with the fleet. The occasional missile would plunge through the flak and detonate off the heavy armour, burning away the layers bit by bit.

In the outer formation a _Valkyrie _Battlestars flak fields failed to stop two armour piercing missiles, which struck, burning away the dorsal armour to the final layer. But the small frigate remained in its position, firing its flak cannons continuously as it released the last few Vipers from its small hangers.

Like a predator sensing a weak prey the _Ark Royal _dived towards the Battlestar, its main rail-guns firing streams of armour piercing rounds at a vessel which was two, maybe three times her size. The flak fields offered no defence for the explosive rounds of the Battlecruisers weapons. The cruiser passed under the warship, its dorsal guns peppering the hull, blasting away huge chunks of armour and opening the interior to space.

The _Odyssey _passed overhead a second behind its sister ship, firing its underside rail guns on the weakened hull armour. Armour piercing rounds peppered and pierced through, creating a series of explosions which turned the Battlestar into a dead husk.

One down, eleven to go.

------

The underground bunker wasn't the most lavish or comfortable place to be. Its dreary grey concrete walls, meters thick, were devoid of any decoration. Against the walls were communication and radar stations, each one manned by an operator. In the centre of the chamber was a large map of the world, sectioned into small squares representing a few thousand kilometres each.

It wasn't the most comfortable place to be, but for the President of the United States and his Joint Chiefs of Staff, this was the safest place to be. Henry Hayes watched as several squares across North America and Europe went amber, then red, followed by a young lady's voice over the loud speaker.

"Enemy fighters sighted over New York, New England, Florida and Washington" she spoke up, her tone calm, there was a moment of pause before she spoke again "Enemy fighters sighted over England, France, Germany and Spain"

Attached to ceilings were huge monitors, each showing the mapping table or live footage from the main military bases. One monitor showed a full squadron of F-18 Hornets taking off from Langley air force base in Virginia. Another showed at least three squadrons of F-302's in the upper atmosphere, climbing to meet an incoming group of enemy Vipers.

He turned to his staff of military advisors "So, now what?"

"The Ancient Outpost" one of his Generals stated "If we use it now we can destroy every one of those ships, and probably send the rest of them running with their tales between their legs"

"Who's in the chair?"

------

John Sheppard sat in the ancient chair, watching as slightly panicking scientists ran around the room. One of these scientists was Doctor Rodney McKay, one of the chief scientists in Atlantis and a member of his Stargate team. The Canadian stood in the centre of the chaos, running through mountains of simulation data with his tablet computer.

"So can I fire it yet" John asked nonchalantly.

"No" Rodney replied in a tired and slightly exasperated tone, John had gotten used to it, but the scientist had a knack for making people feel like they were being belittled by him on a regular basis.

John waited for a few more seconds, twiddling his thumbs and obviously bored "How about now"

"Look" McKay started in his usual, impatient voice "If I get these calculations even moderately wrong the targeting systems would be out of line, and you might end up flattening Manhattan instead of blowing up a Battlestar, okay?"

"Okay, okay" Sheppard replied, he was silent for about three seconds "How about now"

"Shut up" McKay growled before turning to his third assistant in the last twenty minutes, a terrified young woman with a flawless complexion, blue eyes and blonde hair tied up in a ponytail.

"Where are the new results!?"

"Umm" she started nervously "You only sent them away three minutes ago doctor, they're…umm…not back yet"

"I'm surrounded by idiots" he roared "Make yourself useful-" John phased out the rest of his speech, but he thought he heard him questioning if the creature she had evolved from was a primate or a dodo. By the time he sent her away John thought he heard her sobbing.

"Looks like you're going to need a new assistant Rodney"

The scientist gave him a withering glare before returning to his work. John fell back into the ancient chair, wishing that he had a magazine or something to take up his time.

"Excuse me Doctor McKay"

"What" Rodney shouted, whipping around to face the unlucky messenger, another young woman of Asian descent with shoulder length black hair, she flinched under his condescending glare.

"A message sir" she said timidly, holding out another tablet computer. With a growl Rodney snatched it and looked at the contents. His eyes went wide and his mouth slightly agape, it would have been hilarious if John didn't know him so well.

"What?"

"The Colonials" McKay muttered "They're in upper orbit"

"McKay" John started slowly after a few moments of silence, the gravity of the message hitting him like a staff blast "Get this chair operational now!!!"

------

With the Jaffa Ha'taks replacing them on the main line the surviving _Daedalus _Battlecruisers went speeding off to the skirmish taking place above their planet. The _Prometheus _was at the head of the taskforce, flanked by the _Apollo _and the _Korolev_.

Ahead of them was a full battle between their rearguard and the Colonial flotilla, Jack didn't know how they got past them without warning, not even their hyperdrives had the capacity to jump so close to the atmosphere without being ripped apart by the planets gravity well.

A line of concentrated plasma shot forth from the main beam cannons of the _Odyssey_, lighting up the darkness in an incandescent blue as it struck the central section of one of the main Battlestars. The blade of energy pierced the dorsal section of the warship, exiting through the underside. A second beam from the Battlecruiser went through the capital-ships frontal section, with the same effect on the heavily armoured behemoth as the one before had. A third shot finished the giant off, striking its engine nacelles and creating an explosion which completely incinerated the rear half.

The _Ark Royal _didn't fire its beam cannons, instead it passed by one of the escorts, firing a devastating volley of fire from its main rail guns and missile launchers. By the time she passed by the entire dorsal section of the _Valkyrie_ wasablaze with fire which burned through the armour and into the bowels of the ship. Jack could imagine the people who were most likely being burned alive at this moment.

He had been expecting the Ancient Outpost to be firing off drone weapons any time know, but found to his growing annoyance no glowing projectiles swarming up from the northern pole of the planet "Where are the drones? Where are the fireworks!?"

"They're reporting a problem with the targeting systems sir" Marks replied.

"That's what happens when you let a bunch of white coated idiots fiddle around with the most powerful weapon we have" Jack growled "It will work perfectly they said"

"What's your order sir?"

"What else" Jack replied "Shoot them down!"

------

A new series of tremors assaulted the superstructure, followed by another muffled explosion as the Earth Battlecruisers closed in on their locations. On the DRADIS displays he saw two red blips in among his taskforce, a few seconds passed before two of his ships winked off the displays, worse still; one of them was the _Capricorn_.

"Damn it where are our fighter support" he roared.

"They can't penetrate their shields sir" his xo replied "Our missiles keep pounding them but they just won't go down!"

Another one of his ships winked off the DRADIS displays "The _Valkyrie _Battlestar _Horizon _has been destroyed!"

"The _Hades _has taken several missile strikes to her starboard side, she's venting atmosphere!"

"We won't be able to keep this position much longer"

"What about the main fleet" the Commander asked tersely.

The com operator checked the long range frequencies before shaking his head "They've been stopped by the alien ships!"

Another explosion shook the entire form of the Battlestar violently, causing Ronin and several other standing officers to lose their footing and fall to the deck. Alarms blared through the CIC, warning the crew of an air breach on the outer levels. The commander forced back the sudden nausea and came up to a knee, feeling a warm liquid dribble down from his forehead.

"We have a breach on decks six and seven, portside!"

"Seal off the effected areas" Ronin ordered.

"But there might be people still in there"

"I said seal them off" he roared back in reply "If those breaches aren't contained then we all die!!!"

The damage control operator flinched under the commander's murderous gaze before timidly setting to work, pushing buttons on her wall console, sealing the bulkheads in the effected areas off one by one.

"The _Hades _has been crippled"

"The escort vessels _Alexandra _and _Regent _are engaging Earth forces…they're being overwhelmed sir!"

"Damn them to Hades!" he growled, they were massacring his taskforce, these were men and women who were all loyal to the pantheon of Kobol, they all believed in the gods with all their hearts and souls "Prep nuclear ordinance"

"Sir"

"If they're going to kill us then let it be so that they remember us" he replied, a mad smile crossing his lips "Order all remaining Battlestars to prepare nuclear ordinance, aim for any major urban centres!"

The com officer remained quiet for a moment "Let's teach these heretics what we're made off sir"

"Yes" Ronin replied as another set of tremors assaulted his ship, he paid the alarms no mind "For the gods!"

"For the gods" his crew replied in unison, it was then that Ronin saw with delight that not one of his crew doubted their faith.

------

"Rodney" John growled impatiently.

"We're almost there" Rodney replied hurriedly as he continued to type into his mobile computer "Do you have any idea how many calculations we need to take to get this system functioning again, I swear if you people-"

"Just shut up and do it McKay"

"Okay wait for it" he said after a moment, typing off the last few commands into his datapad before a small smile crossed his face "I'm done!"

"Finally" John replied as he sat back in the chair. Several things happened then. His platform and the chair itself began to glow with a brilliant blue as John mentally activated the deadliest device known to mankind. The chair reclined as the Lieutenant Colonel delved into the control systems and saw everything.

He saw the entire star system. He saw the battle taking place around the moon. He saw the secondary battle taking place in the upper atmosphere over the Atlantic and the multitude of skirmishes taking place in the skies over America, Europe and Asia. He did not hesitate. He thought of the Colonial ships in orbit and fired a wave of drones.

It was as the drones were half way to their targets that he saw something that he would never forget, a mass of missiles launched from the surviving Colonial ships, the chair let him see what they were in all their terrible glory. They were nukes, fifty kiloton nuclear missiles, aimed at cities across the East coast of America, mainland Europe and the Middle-East.

He launched a second wave of drones then, aiming them for as many of the city destroying weapons as he could. But he knew that they wouldn't make it in time.

------

"By the gods" Cain said in open shock, gaining the attention of her CIC crew "What is he doing"

She watched alongside her command staff as a mass of small blips escaped the main tubes of the last surviving Battlestars, all identified as nuclear missiles aimed for Earth. Her Viper captains were all calling her command centre, asking for orders.

"What is he doing" she said again, this time her voice rose by several decibels "Call every Viper in the atmosphere, shoot those missiles down!"

"The Vipers in the atmosphere aren't responding ma'am"

"What"

------

Jack watched the entire fiasco unfold before him in muted terror, long range sensors reported at least fifty nuclear missiles had launched from the main Battlestars. All aimed for cities in America, Europe and the Middle-East. Jack imagined seeing New York, Austin or even Washington being levelled, it was enough to drive him from his trance.

"Call every squadron commander" he ordered, his voice a tense whisper "Every fighter in those air zones are to break off all combat sorties and shoot those missiles out of the sky" he hesitated "Shoot them down now!"

------

The Viper exploded in a mass of fire and debris as the missile struck it, wrenching it from existence in one pivotal moment. An F-22 flew through the wreckage, banked hard to its portside and began training its sights on another Viper. The edges of the fighter jets wings trailed thin white smock as it turned.

A mass of tracer fire came forth and struck the fighter along the left wing, blasting it free of its restraints and sending it spinning out of control to the ground, two thousand meters below. A Viper roared past, missing the remnants of the explosion by mere millimetres. An F-18 was on its tail and firing continuously from its nose mounted machine guns.

All across a ten mile radius, with the cities of New York and Washington watching wide eyed below them was a mass of skirmishes taking place between United States Air Force F-18 Hornets and F-22 Raptors against Colonial Mock VII Vipers.

The entirety of the Viper contingent were well armed with three cannons, two on the tips of the wings and one situated on the nose with the ability to carry two Mock X Interceptor missiles under its wings. In close combat it was an unbelievably agile fighter craft, even though the pressures of the atmosphere took their toll on its manoeuvrability it was still agile enough to outmanoeuvre the atmospheric jets they were fighting against.

It didn't mean that the defenders weren't to be commended.

Lee 'Apollo' Adama was a Captain of the Colonial Reserve Forces who had recently been reassigned as the CAG of the Battlestar _Nemesis_. Leading the capital-ships six fighter squadrons, a fighting strength of exactly seventy two Vipers and twelve Raptors, a number which had been whittled down to forty Vipers and ten Raptors. The defences of Earth were far greater than they could have possibly imagined.

They were taking out the enemy fighters at a rate of three to one, every one of his pilots were shooting down three, maybe in some cases four enemy aircraft for every one. The enemy just kept coming, more fighter jets, more attack helicopters and gunships ascended from the surface.

As Lee took out another enemy fighter with his main cannons he felt a moment of respect for the pilots fighting against him. They were fighting superior military fighters and yet they did not hesitate, they just dove in and attacked.

He looked to the side in time to see another twenty jets soar towards the battle, he could only see them as small dots in the cloud covered sky, but he knew more were coming, and he wondered if the number approaching them was endless. This next one would be the third wave coming to try and intercept them, and he guessed there were a lot more than twenty.

An F-18 came streaking across his port bow, followed by two Vipers who were firing with their main cannons. A missile came from nowhere, striking one of the Colonial craft and reducing it too a mass of debris and fire, an F-22 soared past the wreckage, aiming for the second fighter who was banking hard away.

In a moment the CAG acted, bringing his Viper into as sharp a turn as possible in the atmosphere he brought himself behind the rampaging Earth fighter, aiming his main cannons and released a three second burst. The F-22 was able to bank to starboard, missing the majority of the fire. The CAG stayed on him, seeing a moment he fired another two second burst, this time he hit home, the Raptor took the hit and exploded as the tracer fire struck its fuel tanks.

Apollo banked to the right, feeling more than seeing an F-18 train its main cannons on him. He brought his Viper into a sharp dive, missing the cannon fire by what seemed like centimetres. The Hornet tried to keep up with his fighter, but even in the atmosphere the Vipers manoeuvrability was nothing to be laughed at. The atmospheric jet tore past him, its turn seeming sluggish.

It was then that Apollo was able to get a message from the Earth forces. Their frequencies overlapped the Earthlings on occasion. There were times he heard com chatter, it was how he was able to guess the names of their fighters. But the Earth forces were learning fast, they were changing their frequencies, he had to admire their determination.

"_To all USAF, no all __**planetary**__ forces, we have incoming nuclear missiles aimed at cities across North America, Europe and the Middle-East…all fighters in those zones are ordered to break off sorties and intercept immediately! I repeat!!!"_

"Did anyone else here that" he heard a Viper pilot shout.

"We fired nukes!?"

Apollo watched as nearly half of the Earth fighters broke off from the main battle, obviously planning intercept courses towards the incoming nuclear missiles.

------

Fighters from across the planet moved to intercept the approaching missiles, O'Neill could only watch as they ignored the Colonial fighters, even though some were taking advantage and shooting them down as they pulled back. One by one a missile was intercepted by fighters who were shot down moments later by dogged Viper pilots.

But some got through and the Director of Homeworld security watched in stunned silence as nuclear detonations were reported across three continents.

New York

It was early.

People were still getting up for school and work.

In Manhattan a father and mother were driving their son and daughter to their first day at school.

A crack addict looked at the rising sun uncaringly before turning to a line of cocaine he had placed on a table.

A young woman was leaving from her nightshift, wanting nothing more than to crawl into her bed and sleep till dusk.

The fifty kiloton missile struck the centre of Manhattan. Surprised pedestrians could only gaze upon the streak of black smoke before they were struck by the force of one of the most powerful weapons mankind ever created. People within three hundred meters of ground zero exploded into gore and blood, staining the ground and walls. Skyscrapers and surrounding buildings toppled as a hurricane wind whipped through them.

To the people of the surrounding region a huge mushroom shaped cloud came into existence over one of the largest cities in all of the United States. Then another appeared over Washington DC, Miami, Annapolis and Boston. In the space of two minutes five of the United States major cities had been wiped off the map.

He couldn't see what was happening in Europe, the Middle-East or North Africa, but he could only guess that they were taking the same punishment.

O'Neill grabbed the armrests of his command chair so hard that his knuckles turned white, his teeth gritted so tight that he heard them scratching together. A moment passed before the Director regained a measure of self control.

It was then that he saw a swarm of drone weapons rise up from the northern atmosphere of the planet. They were like a flock of golden streaks, beautiful. It was the lead Battlestar who was struck first. The drone weapons entered the warship on its underside, burst forth from its ventral section, looped around and pierced through her again.

The drone swarm separated like the branches of a huge tree, each thin trail aimed at one of the last surviving Battlestars. One by one they were ripped apart in a mass of cracking debris and explosions.

In the CIC Ronin could only watch as a mass of red dots swarmed over his flotilla of warships, he watched in growing fear as they winked off the DRADIS one by one until his was the only ship left. Something erupted from the floor of the CIC and all that he could remember were the horrendous sounds of overstressed metal snapping like twigs, explosions encompassing his command centre and finally, him being consumed by red flames.

------

"Massive nuclear detonations detected across the planet ma'am"

Cain did not reply, she simply leaned heavily against the command table, her mind whirling through what had just happened. Nuclear weapons had been authorised, but only if there were no other choices, only if defeat seemed to be a distinct possibility, and then, only on military targets, not cities of millions of civilians.

Then there was what happened to Ronin's battle squadron, in under one minute the remnants of his force, three Battlestars and five escorts vanished from the DRADIS displays. Local Viper squadron commanders reported a swarm of golden weapons rise from the surface and completely annihilate the Colonial taskforce. Not a single warship survived.

"Orders Admiral"

"The alien fleet are harrying Commander Alexi's taskforce" the com officer reported "He is engaging"

Cain watched the DRADIS displays, gauging the enemy ships and what they're next plan of action would be. The surviving Earth ships were stationed in geosynchronous orbit around their planet, she could see their rail-guns flaring, targeting the surviving Vipers in orbit. It would be obvious that with the nuclear bombing of their home planet the Earth ships would be coming into the battle with a vengeance, once they were done with the remnants of Ronin's fighter squadrons.

The alien fleet was flanking her forces from the left. They had reformed into a battle line, seven warships firing at will upon a similar line of twelve Colonial capital-ships. Missiles streaked from her Battlestars, a mixture of ballistic and fifty kiloton nuclear weapons. It was clearly seen that they were having an effect on the enemy line.

Something made even clearer when the shields of one of them seemed to shatter under an assault from three nukes, a fourth one struck its pyramid central section, the cruiser cracked and fell apart under the onslaught.

Across the way the front Battlestar winked off the DRADIS displays as the plasma barrage proved too much for its thick armour plating, a plasma discharge hit an ammo depot. The capital-ship vanished in a flash of blinding light.

"Their shields aren't as strong as the Earth ships"

Cain didn't know who made the assumption "Order all Battlestars to fire every nuclear weapon on those ships. Every weapon bank is too fire until the barrels go red hot from overheating!"

The firing solution of the Battlestars seemed to intensify. Firing blasts of fire that would make any sea commander feel nostalgic. Missiles streamed out in clusters, seemingly passing the plasma barrages midway between the two fleets.

Then the Earth starships came in, the entire fleet fired their plasma cannons in unison, piercing through the hulls of three of her escorts and one main Battlestar, all four ships winked off the DRADIS displays. She was losing, she outnumbered these ships by over five to one, yet she was losing. Every tactic she employed seemed to be useless.

The Earth ships were just better, their weapons were superior. Their shields were able to withstand multiple nuclear detonations. It was only because of the numerical advantage that they were doing any damage to them at all.

At first she didn't notice the blue dot representing the _Demeter _winked off the DRADIS displays, not until she felt a wave of energy push her ship, sending maps and files crashing to the floor and causing one poor Ensign to lose his footing. She looked up to the displays to see that her squadron of three Battlestars had become two.

"Where's the _Demeter_"

"Viper commanders report she just blew up ma'am" a panicked com officer reported.

It didn't sink in "What?"

It was then that she noticed the blue dot representing the _Nemesis _disappear from the DRADIS, followed by another shockwave "What is going on!?"

"The smaller ship is approaching from our starboard side"

------

"It seems to have worked" Jack said through gritted teeth.

"Yes sir" Samantha replied, although without her trademark smile "The Colonial warships have no shielding, or any other way to jam teleportation technology. Beaming nuclear warheads into them is no trouble"

Her statement was added as the second Battleship exploded in a flash of brilliant light, when the light dissipated, it had been cracked in half like an egg, Jack hesitated for a moment "Contact all other 304's, give them the go ahead to begin attack pattern Caldwell Alpha"

"Yes sir"

"All except for the flagship" Jack added "Does any of our ships have marine contingents?"

"All _Daedalus-class _warships have a company of elite troop's sir" Marks replied hoarsely.

"Order them to destroy all enemy ships except for five. I want to take a few of these things"

"Yes sir"

"What's the status of the Jaffa?"

"One Ha'tak destroyed. The shields of three more are threatening to fail"

"Then let's start with the bastards hitting them" he said "Order the _Apollo _and the _Korolev _to start beaming nukes into the enemy battle line!"

"Yes sir"

"Let's end this" Jack said with conviction "And let's give them such a beating that they won't come back for seconds!"

------

"Issue a retreat order" Cain said with finality "We are to regroup at the rendezvous point…order the troop transports and supply ships to go first, we'll give them cover until they're out of the combat zone"

"Yes Admiral"

"Admiral" a com officer shouted.

"What" Cain asked, quietly and with defeat laced into her voice.

"We're getting reports of skirmishes taking place on the Battlestars _Olympia, Zeus, Cerberus _and the _Columbia_"

"Wait 'on' the Battlestars?" Cain asked in disbelief.

"Yes Admiral" her com officer replied "Reports are garbled but it seems like enemy troops are just appearing on them in flashes of light…the CIC's of the _Columbia _and _Olympia _have been compromised!"

Just then there were several flashes of bright bluish light in the CIC and ten soldiers in black armoured suits appeared. In a flash the Admiral drew her sidearm and levelled it at the head of one of them, the command chambers contingent of marines doing likewise.

Gunfire and shouting could be heard down the hall, her ship had been boarded. More flashes of light appeared across the bridge, more enemy troops levelled their weapons at her, her crew and the marines.

"Wait" she said, raising her hands in the air, she threw her gun to the side and kicked it away out of reach "All of you, lower your weapons"

Slowly, hesitantly her crew and marines lowered their guns. Helena gulped before regaining her composure and stepping forward "Who is your commanding officer?"

"That would be me" the man she had aimed for answered.

"I, Helena Cain, Admiral of the Colonial fleet, offer the complete and unconditional surrender of this ship" she stated, coming to attention, startling everyone in the CIC, she turned to her com operator "Send the message throughout the Battlestar, all combat personnel are to stand down"

"Very wise"

"My crew are not to be harmed" she said stoutly "I am the commanding officer, I will accept full responsibility"

She looked up at the DRADIS displays to see two Battlestars and four escorts jump away from the battle, and thanked the gods that a few of her starships would survive long enough to take the transports and supply ships home.

* * *

And there we have it, the completion of the opening battle. I have a few ideas on how to keep this going so not to worry about me suddenly stopping updates.

In the next chapter we see the aftermath of the battle for both the people of Earth and the Twelve Colonies. If anyone is wondering about the Cylons or the Asgard they will be making appearances in this story soon enough, alongside another force which should interest Stargate fans somewhat.

Now for the Q&A part of this update. Thank you to everyone who reviewed on the last chapter by the way, I didn't know that it would get this kind of response, needless to say that I was floored lol.

Q: Asgard Beam Weapon

A: Sorry about that, I'm not completely up to date on the specifics of Asgard technology. But I can say that because the Asgard weren't destroyed in this storyline, they didn't give all of their technology to us. I'll try and explain this later on in the story.

Q: Why won't we use nukes?

A: Its true that nuclear weapons were used at the end of the Second World War, but they haven't been fired in anger since, at least not to my knowledge, ask anyone about firing nuclear weapons and they'd probably flinch at the idea.

Q: Why so few _Mercury-class _Battlestars?

A: I just thought when I wrote the opening chapters that Mercury types would be fairly new, so there wouldn't be so many of them.

Q: Will Adama, Apollo or Starbuck be in this?

A: Apollo you've already seen, Adama or any of the others…wait and see

Q: When in Stargate Atlantis is this?

A: Let's say after the _Apollo _launches its pre-emptive strike against the Asurans and the city was forced to change planets.

Q: Shouldn't the Kinetic energy weapons be ineffective against Asgard tech?

A: Maybe, but where would the fun be in that? If I had to gauge the tech levels between the two then there wouldn't be much of a story to it

I think that's about all the questions, oh and a thank you to every one who sent me technical information, including Nedy Rahn for information on Armed forces and how different countries name their warships differently, to FraserMage for reminding me about the different ranks of the RAF as well.


	7. Dealing with Tragedy

_**Chapter 6**_

_**Dealing with Tragedy**_

It was nothing but pandemonium. Alarms of emergency vehicles of all shapes and sizes blared, their red neon lights flashing in the darkness. The suns light completely obscured by the thick black clouds of ash grey, it was midday in the east coast of North America, and yet it seemed to all in attendance as if it were midnight.

Major Peter Kent looked out over the ruins of New York through the protective visor of his HASMAT suit. The great mushroom shaped cloud was already starting to dissipate in the distance, but it would take weeks to disappear completely, and the radiation of the fifty plus kiloton nuclear weapon would remain for decades to come.

The skyscrapers which once dominated the skyline were nothing more than skeletal remnants, partly hidden within the smog, sticking up from the ground out of sheer stubbornness. Even from here he saw several instances where pieces of broken stone and steel would just collapse from the structures and fall several dozen stories to the ground.

The skyscrapers design of strengthened steel had kept them up, but every structure surrounded them had been flattened. The island of Manhattan was nothing more than a field of rubble, unrecognisable, most of the bridges had collapsed. The surrounding boroughs had suffered the same, catastrophic damage, although at a slightly lesser scale, a few structures had partly survived the impact, scattered here and there.

The army had already set up search and rescue operations at the edge of the major cities, setting up central camps along the perimeters. Road blocks were put in place with every road, major and otherwise which would have lead into the states. People were being evacuated in their millions to escape the fallout. But the Major knew that the worst was yet to come.

It started as a trickle at first, a few dozen people staggering from the ruins of the once great metropolis of New York. They're clothes and skin dirtied by ash and mud, so much so that you couldn't tell the colour of a person's skin until you were standing right in front of them. For some the pure scale of what they went through hadn't seemed to hit them yet, many were just in a daze, looking at the world through hollow eyes and blank expressions.

Kent watched the trickle of people begin to increase, he saw a man in what might have been a suit, clutching onto his briefcase so tightly that his knuckles fingers were digging into the black fabric. A boy no older than eight pulling on his grandmother's hand, forcing the dazed elder forward. A woman half guiding, half carrying a man who was bleeding profusely from a wound in his side.

The beating of propellers brought the Major's gaze to the darkened skies to see a convoy of transport helicopters descending on the camp, no doubt carrying medical supplies, food and clean water. He saw smaller Apache attack choppers surrounding the larger, bulkier transports, missiles launchers and heavy guns glistening in the fires in the distance. Higher still were three jet fighters, soaring across the blackened skies, leaving thin trails of white cloud, he couldn't tell what type they were because of their altitude.

Then he saw the first survivor walk onto his post, when he said walk, he meant stagger. She was a young woman, her long hair caked in ash and suit, her olive skin and light clothing stained grey with ash and mud. She was clutching a bundle in her hands. Without thinking the Major jogged over to her just as she fell to her knees and started to sob into the mass of cloth, tears smearing the ash as they ran down her cheeks.

He came down to a knee and reached out, giving her shoulder a squeeze and making her face him. He looked down to see what she was holding and shook his head. A small hand lay limply from the cloth, unmoving.

------

How does one deal with the aftermath of Armageddon? Jack thought as he stood in the mess of the _Prometheus_. A cup of hot coffee in his hands, he watched as the five Battlestars slowly came into some kind of formation in the upper atmosphere of Earth, nearly fifty kilometres away from his flagship and the remnants of the allied fleet.

The Director watched the lumbering behemoths with a fire in his eyes, before looking down upon the continent of North America. In the eastern seaboard he could make out the dissipating clouds of radiation and ash which was still hovering over the ruins of four major American cities.

New York, Miami, Boston and Annapolis were in ruins. Unrecognisable from the great utopias they were just twenty four hours ago. The death toll was unknown, but researchers and rescue analysts were placing it at roughly five million people for the United States. A figure they unanimously agreed was going to rise.

What was worse, the largest evacuation in American history was taking place, millions of people were being forced to leave their homes in the surrounding states for fear that the radiation would spread into the surrounding areas. Similar measures were being taken in Southern Europe, North Africa and most of the Middle-East.

Suddenly unable to stomach his coffee anymore Jack threw the cup across the empty mess, it exploded off the steel bulkhead with a loud crash, the broken glass and its contents splashing off the decking.

"Jack"

He turned to see Carter standing at the doorway. Her eyes strayed to the broken mug on the floor, and then back to him "The Colonials have agreed to a full surrender. As of five minutes ago the Battlestars _Pegasus, Zeus, Columbia, Olympia _and _Cerberus _are now fully under our control"

"Good" Jack replied, turning and looked out the view-screen once more, he sighed before speaking "Y'know when we fought against the Goa'uld or the Replicators I fully expected something like this to happen, I've seen that they wouldn't care about such a thing. But to see fellow humans stoop to the level of blowing up half a damn planet is just…it's just…"

"I know" Sam replied, walking up to him and placing a hand on his shoulder "I don't believe it either"

"We can't just let this go Sam" Jack replied, reaching up with his own hand to take hers "If we do then they'll just come back with a bigger force to finish the job"

"I know" she agreed "But we need to do some things before we go against them again. We kept the Stargate program a secret because we expected that such news could be a disaster, but have you seen the reports Jack, have you seen what's happening down there?"

"Yeah I've seen"

"The world is doing the complete opposite of what we thought" she continued "Its uniting, Jack"

Jack had seen the news reports from across the world, had seen the great destruction wrought by the Colonials and their weapons. But through it all he had seen through the news reels something else, something he thought he'd never see in his lifetime. And through all this one emotion welled up in him more than his anger, hope.

------

New York, Miami, Boston, Annapolis, Barcelona, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Lyon, Milan, Naples, Florence, Cairo, Alexandria, Tripoli, Baghdad, Damascus, Judea, Beirut and Tehran, Henry Hayes sighed as he sat back in his chair, looking through the papers and reports strewn across his desk.

Nineteen major cities destroyed by fifty megaton detonations, dozens of towns and hundreds of villages in the surrounding areas falling victim to the after effects. There were reports of huge earthquakes taking place in the Middle-East and North Africa, tsunamis had struck coastlines in every continent and a record number of volcano eruptions were taking place in the pacific and west coast of North America. The nuclear attacks may have ended, but the after effects were just starting to take shape.

Scientists and researchers believe that at least twenty million people had been killed in the nuclear attacks. A death toll that everyone agreed was set to rise exponentially, thousands more would die from radiation poisoning, thousands more from the natural disasters plaguing the world.

Washington, thankfully, was saved from the nuclear disaster which struck New York, just under a hundred miles north. But no chances were to be taken. A full evacuation order had been given to the states surrounding the affected cities. Washington was one such city.

The President knew that even now the main highways were packed with traffic jams the full length of the state highway. Above them were dozens of transport helicopters from all three branches of the Armed forces, evacuating hospitals, schools among other places, including the White House and Congress.

"Mister President"

He looked up to see the US IOA representative, Mister Richard Woolsey, alongside his Joint Chiefs of Staff and other major political players strewn across the Oval Office. All were looking to him for guidance, a mixture of fear, uncertainty and dread on their faces.

"Give me the newest report" Hayes ordered, reaching out his hand and accepting the new file from the senior IOA representative. Even before he started to skip through the pages he was hearing the reports from the mouths of his cabinet.

"We have dispatched units from the navy, the air force and the army to New York, Annapolis, Miami and Boston. National Guard from the surrounding states are being assembled to help in the evacuation of the surrounding areas and the rescue efforts"

"We're talking about evacuating the entire east coast of the United States" one politician, whose name Henry couldn't remember stated nervously "That's tens of millions of people"

"If we don't move them now then those tens of millions of peoples will be more casualties" Hayes snapped "Get it done, move as many people as possible away to the states to the central US"

"Yes sir"

"What else"

"We should put the whole country on alert sir. There are reports of mass anomalies, especially on the San Andreas Fault line, St Helens and other volcanoes are experiencing a rise in activity"

"By god man our rescue services are stretched beyond breaking point with the nuclear strikes" another politician stated "And you want to divert more in case of _Earthquakes_!"

"Shut it" Hayes replied "If you people aren't going to say anything helpful then get out of this office!" he starred at them for a moment before continuing "Place the west coast rescue divisions on full alert, all National Guard regiments are to assemble and await orders from high command"

"Yes Mister President"

"What news on the National Broadcast?"

"They will be ready within the hour sir"

------

Within an hour the scene in the Oval office changed, instead of his war and political advisors the president was now starring down huge news cameras and broadcasting equipment. A dozen cameramen stood behind the large machines, making last second preparations and checks to their equipment. The mood within the office was sombre instead of hectic.

The President took a deep breath, sat back in his chair and let his two aides add makeup to his face, he offered a thank you as they finished, and seeing the worry laced on their faces told them to get on the next transport helicopter to safety.

"Ten seconds Mister President" the producer, a tubby, middle aged man who had gone prematurely bald said from behind the cameras. In ten seconds he would be live before all fifty states of the United States of America. The Producer lifted his hand and counted down with his fingers and thumb, ending it with a thumbs up.

Hayes clasped his hands together and starred at the camera lens, his indecision replaced with a fiery determination, such was the skills he needed as a politician.

"People of the United States" he stopped himself, remembering that he was talking to the entire world, he shook his head and started over "No, people of Earth, this is Henry Hayes, President of the United States of America. I come before you through a live feed from the White House"

"Yesterday, April 13th, 2009, a date which will live in infamy to the people of this world, the Earth was suddenly attacked by an alien nation, an alien nation which calls itself the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. In order to explain this to you I will be telling you of events which until recently were classified beyond top secret under the strictest charters of the United States and the United Nations"

"In Giza, Egypt in 1928 Archaeologists discovered a device which was able to allow travel to different worlds through the use of a wormhole. This device was called a stargate-"

* * *

A bit shorter than the previous ones, but this was just to go over the after effects on Earth. Next we move to the events of the Twelve Colonies, their reactions and one other surprise

Q: How did one fleet find Earth in three months?

A: Umm, I didn't say it was one fleet, you'll find that in chapter three I said that there were thirty three Battlestars split into taskforces to find Earth

Q: Why didn't the Asgard appear if they weren't destroyed?

A: Even if they weren't destroyed their armed forces were decimated along with most of their worlds because of their war against the Replicators. You will find that the Asgard never really recovered in the Stargate series, and they couldn't amass a fleet in any real force.

Q: Stargate and nukes?

A: True, they did use nukes in Stargate, but think about it, they used them against Replicators and aliens like the Goa'uld and the Wraith, does anyone recall them using nukes on fellow human populations? I don't

Q: Why not beam in flash-bangs or grenades first before troops

A: Tell you the truth, I never thought of it

Q: Puddlejumpers on Earth?

A: Never seen any Puddlejumpers used when Earth is attacked

Q: What happened to the missile platforms used against the Pegasus Replicators?

A: Again I never heard of any orbital defences for Earth aside from the Starships and fighters, if I missed out something then I apologise

Also a special thanks to Jay_Nine for the information on RAF ranks and their American counterparts. Sati James for information on Colonial fleet size, although its too late to change the fleet numbers, and Difdi for the information on the effects of nuclear weapons.


	8. The Sheep

_**Chapter 7**_

_**The Sheep**_

Armistice station was built following the end of the Cylon war, positioned right on the armistice line agreed upon between the Colonials and Cylons. It was considered neutral ground between the two nations, where human and cylon could meet and maintain diplomatic relations.

Forty years passed, every year the Colonials send an officer to that station, even though the chances of meeting a Cylon representative were mute. No one had heard from the Cylons for nearly forty years. Being assigned to this station was an annoyance which few officers within the fleet wanted.

Eric Boxman sighed as he took his seat at the negotiation table, located in the central chamber of the station, the chosen officers had drafted straws to see who would be the unlucky one to go, and he got the short straw. He reached into his bag, pulling out technical specs on all archived Cylon models, a copy of the peace declaration and pictures of his son and wife.

If anything the old officer would rather have been drafted into one of the Battlestar crews that were in the Earth invasion fleet, how he wanted to tell his son that he was there when Earth was initiated into the Colonies as the thirteenth. He was unsure why so many ships of the line where sent for such a thing, many consider that there was more to it than meets the eye.

He waited for hours, reading the specs and peace documents until he knew every word off by heart. More hours passed. He yawned, deciding that no one would mind if he caught up on his sleep. Before he could sleep he heard a fizzle of energy, not from the doors at the other end of the chamber but at the other end of the table.

He opened his eyes and stood up suddenly, his table falling backwards to the floor as he watched a set of cylindrical metal rings appear before him, six of them set like they were part of an invisible pillar. A blindingly bright blue light flashed inside the formation, temporarily blinding the Armistice officer.

Three figures appeared within as if from thin air, and as the rings vanished from view he could make out their features. Two were men, tall and imposing, dressed in glimmering silver armour and holding staff like weapons at attention. Both men had black markings etched into their foreheads.

The other was a woman, a full head smaller than her two bodyguards. She had an ethereal beauty about her. Her long, straight ash blonde hair reached down to the small of her back. Her pale skin, sharp features and piercing blue eyes were bewitching, and her seductive smile made it even more so. She wore a blue bodice dress, leaving her slim shoulders and neck bear, looking her over he wondered how she managed to keep the suit from falling.

"Tell me" she whispered in a silky voice, rounding the table so elegantly she seemed to be floating, a long manicured nail scrapping across the metal "Where is your home world?"

"Who are you" the officer stated, his face stone "How did you get on this station?"

The woman gave him a piercing, impatient look. When she spoke again her voice was different, it sounded distorted, like she was speaking through a filter "I will ask you once more. Where is your home world?"

When he did not answer she held out her right hand, and the last thing he saw was a little device clamped to her palm which glowed with a harsh light. All he remembered after that moment was pain.

------

The quiet of space was unceremoniously shattered by the passing of a behemoth, its huge armoured hull a dull grey to the twilight of the many hundreds of stars which made up the infinity of space.

The _Galactica_ was the oldest ship still commissioned within the Colonial fleet, the last survivor of the first twelve Battlestars created for the protection of the Twelve Colonies during the Cylon war, nearly forty years ago. She was a symbol of the might of the Colonies, a mark of defiance to the Cylons, and this was her last voyage as a ship of the line.

It's last commander, William Adama, walked down the corridors, a piece of paper in his hand, reading over the speech he was set to make to the last crew of _Galactica_, the diplomatic delegation and the news crews who were set to document the transition from warship to mobile museum. The old soldier found it hard to believe that his equally old girl was about to be made into such a thing.

He didn't even hear his prized pilot until she was right beside him "Good morning sir"

"Morning Starbuck" he returned, not taking his eyes of his manuscript.

He wasn't surprised to see Kara 'Starbuck' Thrace. She usually started her day by jogging around the outer corridors of the titanic vessel, and considering that it was sixteen hundred meters from stem to stern, and that she usually did a dozen circuits. That was one hell of a run.

"What do you hear" he asked casually, starting their normal good morning routine.

"Nothing but the rain" she replied with a grin.

"Grab your gun and bring in the cat" he finished.

"Boom, boom, boom" she grinned before taking off, continuing her morning exercise and leaving the old man to rehearse his speech.

He got five seconds before he saw a problem walk down the corridors towards him, two men and a woman dressed in the orange jumpsuits of the deck crew, arguing in hushed tones. Adama looked up, one was his Deck Chief, Galen Tyrol, and when his hands argued with him it was usually serious.

"Shit it's the old man" the other man, or rather boy whispered.

"Too late" Adama said, waving off their salutes "What's up"

"Nothing sir just some trouble with that frakking window" the boy said, a little touch of annoyance laced in his voice before he caught himself "Sorry sir"

Tyrol came in then "This is supposed to be a Battlestar, not a museum sir"

"Couldn't agree with you more" Adama replied "Carry on"

"Thank you sir" the three said in unison before scuttling past him.

He walked on into the CIC. The sounds of people and machinery working in synchrony a welcome distraction from the ceremonial speech he held in his hands. This wasn't only the decommissioning of the _Galactica_. This was the time when he was retiring from the Colonial fleet.

A well overdue retirement, was his thought as he noticed one of his lieutenants walking up to him, a friendly young man named Felix Gaeta, he stopped and saluted "Good morning sir"

"Good morning mister Gaeta" Adama replied as he looked through his retirement speech again "What's the news?"

"We've received a call from Colonial fleet" he answered "The officer they sent to Armistice Station hasn't reported back yet, they think he may be having engine trouble"

Adama looked at the message and sighed "I think we're a little busy today wouldn't you?"

"Yes sir" Gaeta agreed with a smirk "And may I just say what an honour it has been serving with you these last few years"

"The honour is mine mister Gaeta" Adama replied, handing him back the message.

Alarms blared, making both the commander and lieutenant jump in surprise. The old man looked to the DRADIS displays in time to see several unknown blips, seven, no thirteen. It was lieutenant Dualla who spoke.

"Unknown contacts thirty thousand kilometres to stern" she reported "Thirteen, no seventeen vessels"

"Bring us to level two battle stations" Adama ordered.

"I'm getting a communication" Gaeta shouted "Confirming, it's the Earth crusade fleet sir"

"Belay level two alerts" Adama returned "Put me through to Admiral Cain"

"Sir the ship contacting us isn't the _Pegasus_" the lieutenant replied "It's the _Scimitar_"

"What" Adama asked in disbelief, the _Scimitar _was an old _Galactica-class _Battlestar, due itself to retire in a few years time, it wasn't even the lead ship of its own squadron, the old commander had read the ship compilation reports out of curiosity "Put it through"

"Yes sir" Gaeta replied, the second he set the com to the right frequencies he heard a reply.

"Mayday, mayday, this is Commander Blake of the Battlestar _Scimitar _to any colonial ships. We are heavily damaged and require immediate aide, I repeat-"

Will stalked over to the command table under the DRADIS and picked up the corded phone "Commander Blake, this is William Adama, Commander of the Battlestar _Galactica_. We are seven hundred kilometres from your position and offering our assistance"

"By the Gods, thank you Commander" the younger officer replied with relief "Our long range communications had been knocked out and we we're afraid we wouldn't be able to pick up anyone"

"What is your status" Adama asked "What is the status of the fleet?"

"We have taken heavy damage, hull breaches and heavy fire damage along the portside, entire port flight pod has been deemed unusable. A third of our main gun batteries are gone, half of our Vipers have been destroyed" he paused for a few moments "And the fleet…by the gods…the fleet has been all but decimated!"

The silence in the CIC was chilling. No one could believe what they had heard. Adama himself took several long seconds to digest the information before replying to the message.

"Say again" he asked, his voice a croak "The fleet has been annihilated?"

"Yes sir, the fleet has suffered catastrophic losses. We don't have much detail but about three quarters had been confirmed destroyed or heavily crippled before we were able to bug out"

Another alarm resounded through the CIC, and the entire crew watched as the single blip on the DRADIS displays turned into four, then five, ten, thirteen. As the blips continued to multiply a mass of voices could be heard through the com, so many that it was nearly deafening.

------

Richard Adar was enjoying his morning cup of tea when one of his aides rushed into the room, clutching a piece of paper in her slender hands. The President of the Twelve Colonies looked up from the steaming liquid and raised an eyebrow at her heaving form. She looked like she had run a mile.

"What is it Cindy" he asked nonchalantly, taking another sip of his tea.

She didn't say a word, seeming to gulp before handing him the sheet of paper. Confused the president took it and began reading. He dropped his coffee, not caring even when the cup shattered against the centuries old oak floor. He grabbed the page with both hands, rereading the message just to make sure that it wasn't a bad joke.

"This can't be right!" he shouted at her, making the poor girl flinch "A fifth of the fleet, repelled!?"

"The report came from several surviving Battlestar commanders sir" she replied, looking like she wanted to flee more than stay "It was also co-signed by commander Will Adama of the _Galactica_"

The president starred at her for a brief moment before abruptly jumping to his feet, slamming his fists against his well furnished table "Get me the Admiralty, all of them. If they're dead I want their corpses sitting in this room by midday, understand!!!"

Cindy squeaked an affirmative before spinning around and flying from the chamber, leaving a troubled Colonial president alone with his thoughts.

He placed his hand over his face, thinking of the ramifications this could have on the people of the Twelve Colonies. A way to quell the tensions of the people seemed to backfire in his face. Then there was Earth to consider, they would want to counterattack. A quick war had just become a war which could cost him the presidency, and probably his head.

------

The area of space for several kilometres was full of damaged ships. Some so badly damaged the seasoned officer that was Bill Adama wondered how they made it the three months back to Colonial space. Six hours had passed since the first battered Battlestar had arrived, and Adama wished that he could sleep, he and his crew were exhausted with flying rescue and evacuation missions.

He was relieved when a small force of Battlestars appeared in several flashes, accompanying a small flotilla of empty transports that the military had commandeered to move the crews of badly damaged starships. They had to move quickly. They had already lost a _Valkyrie_; the fires had reached the fuel cells and set them off.

To make matters worse the delegation overseeing the _Galactica's _decommissioning had arrived and the lead political figure, a Laura Roslin, was demanding to speak with him. She was the Minister of Education for the government and the last thing Adama wanted to do right now was speak with a teacher.

"Sir" Felix called "The Transports have arrived"

"Very good Mister Gaeta" Adama replied "Send the names of the vessels that need to be evacuated first"

"Aye sir"

"Sir"

The Commander turned around to see a middle aged woman stalk into the CIC, a Marine rushing after her to try and head her off before she reached him. The old man sighed and waved the soldier away "Laura Roslin I presume"

"Commander" the woman greeted, crossing her arms "You can't ignore me all day"

"This is a rescue operation" the Commander replied "I do not have the time to speak of how we are going to decom-"

"Relax Commander" she cut in "I'm not here to get a report on the situation, naturally the rest of the delegation want to know what is going on"

"What is going on ma'am is that the force we sent to Earth has been repelled with almost devastating losses, and I am now trying to organise a rescue of the survivors"

The Minister of Education seemed to visibly pale at the statement "Devastating losses, we sent nearly a fifth of the fleet, are you telling me the Earthlings have a strong enough navy to repel such a force!"

"It would appear so" Adama replied. Outwardly he was as calm and stoic as ever. Inside he was seething. He was one of many senior Commanders within the Colonial fleet who thoroughly opposed the war. It was one of the reasons why he wasn't sent on their little Crusade to forcefully bring Earth into the fold.

Little did he know that the Minister agreed with his opinion, she herself had led a delegation of Senators and fellow Ministers in opposing the idea of declaring war under such dubious causes. They had even gone as far as demand Adar's resignation. Naturally this had led to a huge gulf between her and her former lover.

This news would reach the public, and the results would be beyond catastrophic. She had a feeling his resignation and that of most of his ministers would not be enough to quell the people, many of whom had probably had a loved one on that fleet.

"This could turn nasty" Roslin muttered.

"Yeah" Adama agreed, taking off his glasses to rub his eyes.

------

"The report is accurate" the One said, his ancient features creased in apprehension at what he had read "The Basestar we sent to monitor Earth reported the whole thing"

It was the Eight who spoke next, and her words where ones of disbelief "You can't be serious, a Colonial fleet of well over a hundred Battlestars and military vessels lost to thirteen!?"

"Seven of which where alien vessels" Number Six muttered "Aliens who are allied enough with these humans to aide them, even when the numerical advantage is so against them"

"Believe it or not that is what the report has stated" the One countered "The problem now is what we are going to do about it. The humans of Earth have shown that they have technological superiority to the Twelve Colonies and by extension, superiority over us"

"It is true" the representing Two agreed "The military capabilities of the Twelve Colonies is several years in advance of our own"

"I do not like where this is going" Number Four stated "Are you saying that we should form a pact with the Thirteenth Tribe?"

"That is exactly what I am saying" One replied resolutely "At least for the time being, we could use their help in eliminating the Twelve"

"Why do you think that they would agree to eradicate their own?" Six asked.

"Because according to the report the Colonial fleet launched nuclear strikes on several urban centres on Earth, death toll is calculated to be enormous" One answered "One thing we know about humanity is their lust for revenge, it's in their nature after all, and we can use that to our advantage"

"As well as gain their technology with their trust" Two stated "I am in agreement with One"

"I agree" Seven added "This sounds interesting"

"As do I" Three grunted.

"Playing the humans against each other" Six spoke with a raised brow, a wicked smile playing across her face "I'm in"

One by one the other Cylons voiced their agreement to One's plan. Cavil looked on, hiding a smirk as the proceedings continued "Very well, we shall send a small taskforce to Earth, offer our hand to the Thirteenth"

------

The darkness of space was interrupted as a half dozen hyperspace windows opened, allowing a fleet of vessels to return to realspace. Nine Ha'tak motherships exited the windows, their worn armoured hulls bristling with plasma cannons. Ahead of the small fleet was the solar system which they had been searching for.

Four figures stood on the Peltak, the command deck of the lead mothership, looking out over the small solar system before them. The four, two men and two women, had not been in this section of space for a couple of centuries. In fact the planet they once ruled was a couple of lightyears away.

"They have indeed come far" one of the women said, her voice distorted.

"Indeed" one of the males concurred "To be able to gain the technology to colonise other worlds, and to be able to spread out like this is certainly something to be applauded"

The other woman snarled "Weak willed vermin, we should have returned years ago when we had the strength"

"Now, now" the last male chided "It's not good for you to distort that pretty face of yours, you'll just start to look old"

"Shut it" she snapped.

"Vermin or no" the other female cut in "Their existence gives us a chance"

"Are you're agents in position my dear" the first male asked in a low tone.

"Of course" she stated, raising her head high, her eyes glowing and a wicked grin spreading "Who do you think you're talking too?"

* * *

**Sorry for the late delay folks, I know this sounds really cliché but its coursework which is holding me back. I failed two pieces of coursework and had to redo them over the summer. Still doing them too, I just got some inspiration between a frustrating study session, and started writing instead :)**

**To Vorpal about the destructive power of a nuclear weapon, in my opinion you're nitpicking here. No one has ever seen the destructive power of a fifty gigaton/megaton/kilaton nuclear weapon visited upon an urban area. All they can do is speculate on the destructive power. That's what I did. Speculate.**

**To Archfiend, thank you for backing me up on the Nuclear weapons thing.**

**I know that my opinions on combat abilities are fluctuating a lot during this story, and I apologise. I'm playing around with the specks to see which one feels absolutely right. **

**Thank you very much, hoped you guys enjoyed the chapter and I will try and get another up soon! Peace!!! :)**


	9. The Wolves

_**Chapter 8**_

_**The Wolves**_

"DRADIS contact"

Adama snapped his head from the command table, covered in data reports and roll calls to look at the operator who screamed the warning "More of ours"

"Negative sir" the operator replied "Six ships, moving towards us at an incredibly fast speed, sixty thousand kilometres and closing!"

"Try and hail them" Adama ordered sharply "Are there any Viper wings in that area!"

"Two squadrons from the _Crucible_" Tigh answered.

------

"_Crucible Red _and _Crucible Green _Squadrons this is _Galactica _actual"

Flight CAG Jordan Flint yawned and stretched in his cockpit before answering the sexy voice who had awakened him from his rest "Go ahead _Galactica_"

"DRADIS reports several unknown contacts bearing down on us" the woman explained "Get your squadrons in formation and check it out"

"Roger that _Galactica _actual" Flint replied before changing his frequency to the two squadrons under his command "You heard the lady boys and girls. Formation Caprica Delta, arm cannons and missiles!"

One by one the twenty Vipers under his command broke off from their original flight route and reformed on an intercept course for the unknown forces. Whoever they were Flint wasn't worried, not when he was in the seat of one of the fastest and most manoeuvrable fighters in the Colonial fleet.

That's what he wanted to believe, but even though he didn't show it the CAG was shook up by the current events, whoever could annihilate a fleet of the size sent to Earth must be a force to be reckoned with. The few dozen survivors were being escorted back to Colonial space by a flotilla of Eight Battlestars and twelve escorts, including the _Crucible_.

"What you got for us Peg?" he asked over the com, directing his question to the pilot of the forces only Raptor. Lieutenant Jasper 'Peg' Carlson was a thirty two year old man from Caprica City, and a damn fine pilot too.

"Eight contacts" his raspy voice answered "A hundred clicks and approaching fast"

"How fast"

"Frighteningly fast for ships this size" he replied, a lace of worry in his tone "The vessels are roughly six hundred meters long, can't tell much else at this range"

"All Vipers arm cannon"

"They're right on us!!!"

Flint looked up from his cockpit and saw them. By the gods he saw them. Eight large ships were descending upon them faster than any capital-ship in the Colonial navy. They flew overhead, passing him and his squadrons even as they scattered in all directions in case of anti-ship fire.

"_Galactica _Actual this is _Red One _over" he yelled "Eight massive ships are moving straight towards you, for the love of the gods respond!"

------

"Calm down _Red 1_"Anastasia Dualla soothed "What do they look like?"

"Platforms…platforms surrounding a prism like object" the CAG replied "By the gods they're fast, moving into a pursuit course!"

Adama knew the design immediately, he heard of similar ships in debriefing reports he gained from surviving Commanders. His XO was of a like mind and one glance at each other was all that was needed "Bring us up to level one alert, arm torpedo bays and gun turrets, launch all Vipers!"

"Aye sir"

"Commander Flint" Dualla spoke from her post "Are they hostile, have they fired upon you?"

"No ma'am" he replied "They just passed over us. It was as if they didn't know we were here"

"Vipers away"

"All defence turrets are ready to go"

"Torpedo tubes all armed sir"

"I have confirmation from the other Battlestars. They will follow your orders sir"

William nodded before picking up the corded phone "Get me in contact with all Battlestar commanders"

------

"Hmm, I think we scared them a little bit"

"Dear Hera" a tall dark skinned man spoke in a refined voice, walking over and sliding an arm around her slender waist "Don't you think we overdid it, we came here to offer salvation, not to inspire fear"

The shorter woman laughed lightly "My apologies Zeus, I just found all of those little primitive insects scattering so delightful"

"Should we call them now or inspire a little more awe?"

"Now, now Ares" Zeus replied "Have a little patience"

"Yes, have a little patience" the fourth individual, a tall elegant woman spoke in a honeyed voice "You are far too uptight"

"I am tense Aphrodite because everyone else is so laid back" he responded testily.

"Timing is everything" Zeus began before looking at the zoomed in image of the Human fleet, hundreds of small craft were escaping from their sides, creating a huge cloud around the larger ships "And I think the time is now to make our first move"

------

"They stopped"

Adama looked up at the red blips on the DRADIS displays and frowned. The alien vessels had indeed halted, just outside of the range of their main guns. Swarms of smaller blips were appearing around them, most likely symbolising wings of fighter craft, these fighters formed up around their mother ships, not making any offensive moves towards his flotilla.

"What are you thinking?" Tigh asked.

"Order our Vipers to form up defensively around us. Tell them not to make any offensive action unless threatened" the Commander ordered.

There was a flash of light which made everyone in the CIC jump in surprise and a single human form appeared in the very centre of the control bridge. The form was a life sized woman who looked in her mid twenties with long hair, a slender figure covered by a body hugging dress and sharp features.

Her form flickered in the air and Adama, after a moment of contemplation realised that it was probably a hologram, something which he had been used to hearing off in science fiction novels and films.

She smiled a bewitching smile and spoke; her voice slightly distorted "I bring you greetings children of Kobol, I am Hera"

The command crew, still reeling from the fact that this woman appeared out of thin air kept back. Only Adama walked forward until he was a couple of feet away from her. Tentatively he reached out with his hand in a sweeping gesture, passing through the hologram.

The woman who called herself Hera smiled "My apologies for appearing before you like this. It is usually our way of initialising a first contact"

"I see" the Commander began apprehensively. He rose up to his full height, all sign of his earlier surprise gone, replaced by a stoic and calm mask. Unsure of how to proceed he decided to go with his gut "Um…Hello"

She smiled again "Hello"

After a moment of silence the Commander decided that he should introduce himself "I am Commander William Adama of the Colonial fleet"

"I am Hera, and I have been chosen to be liaison between the Twelve Colonies of Kobol and us of the Goa'ould Empire"

"Is that your nation?"

"Yes it is"

A question rose to his mind "Why are you here?"

"We have come to know that you have had a run in with the Tau'ri, and we would like to offer our assistance" she said.

Adama looked questioningly at his xo, who shrugged "I'm sorry…Tau'ri?"

"That is the name in which the galaxy knows the humans from the planet Earth" Hera explained, taking the questions in her stride "I know this seems a little bit…how do you say…corny but" she straightened up "Take us to your leader"

------

The aides, guards, employees and military officials of the Presidential residence watched as the small contingent of Admirals filed through the waiting room into the main office.

Each Admiral had brought their own entourages of guards and advisors with them when they answered the summons of the Colonial President, whom they left in the waiting area as they marched to their fate. To all in attendance these powerful men seemed like a line of condemned prisoners awaiting a firing squad.

As the last man walked into the room the large oak doors shut behind them, leaving them inside a soundproof meeting hall which was constantly checked for bugs and similar espionage equipment, to put it short what was said in that room stayed in that room.

President Adar looked at each of the Admirals as they took their seats, and then motioned to one of six Presidential bodyguards who were positioned along the walls. The six men were all tall and imposing, dressed in simple black suits with a black tie and white shirt, within their black jackets were side arms.

"Is it clear" he asked in a low tone.

"The room has been completely swept for any listening devices" the agent replied "We are clear"

The men sighed with relief and slouched in their chairs for a moment, then the President leaned forward, a smirk on his face "I have just received the word, they are making their move"

The Admirals all smiled maliciously, and as they did their eyes began to glow yellow, it was Admiral Nagala who spoke next, his voice distorted and completely alien "When will they arrive"

"Within the next two hours" Adar replied, his own voice taking on an unearthly, throaty tone "They are curious of our progress with these humans. What is your progress with their military?"

"As of now you mean" Nagala asked mockingly before responding "A half of the fleets Commanders are under our control, I must say it had taken a while to turn them all into hosts and the doomed mission to attack the Tau'ri has killed off most of the human Commanders who would become troublesome"

"Good" 'Adar' replied.

"What off you?"

"Most of the ministers have been turned" he answered.

"Then our last problem is the general population" 'Bass' spoke up "What are our options for quelling them if they become troublesome?"

"They have not seen fit to tell me yet" 'Adar' replied "But I guess they would not mind if we glass rebellious settlements from orbit"

'Vitari' snorted "Why not just destroy a world or two as incentive. Perhaps that will put the rest of them in line"

"A delightful plan" 'Adar' muttered, smiling "Perhaps I will put it forward to our superiors"

"A little destruction is good for the soul" 'Nagala' agreed.

A knock came at the door, and after a moment of surprise the president rose from his chair and straightened his ruffled suit "This better be important" he shouted, taking on the façade of Richard Adar once again.

One of his aides walked through the door, a little nervous by the presence of so many important military officials "Sorry sir but we just received a report from Commander Adama, he has made contact with an alien flotilla who seeks an alliance with us"

"Alliance" he asked in feigned surprise.

"That's what they said sir" his aide replied "In the spirit of friendship the commander has spoke of some interesting information"

"And that information is?"

"The location of the Cylon home world"

**Sorry for the long delay, I just had this other story swimming about in my head that I wanted to explore. As you may know I've never tried to write two at once, let alone three so updates will take longer than usual.**

**Warning: this is a rant; anyone who has not made jabs at my story can skip this**

**And let me say this, I HAVE NOT READ REUNIONS ARE A BITCH!!! For the love of god how many times have I said it! How many times do I have to say it before it sinks into these peoples thick unyielding skulls! I…HAVE…NOT…READ…IT! **

**And this crap about a nuclear bombs yield, I made a mistake, get the hell over it and move on with your lives! I don't mind a few people explaining it, but come on, it's been done, move the hell on!**

**Difdi, I am a fan of your work but I have not read it beyond the first few sentences! Oh yeah and on the jab about my grammar, its something I'm working on, so excuse me if it's not up to your standards.**

**Rant end**

**Thank you to everyone who has reviewed about this story, I hope this chapter lives up to your expectations.**


	10. Uneasy Tidings

_**Chapter 9**_

_**Uneasy Tidings**_

Nearly six months had passed since the attack on Earth, and in that time much had changed. Within a week of the attacks an emergency summit was held in the Louise Weiss Building in Strasbourg, France. Over two hundred heads of state met in the European Parliament to decide how they would react to this new threat. This meeting lasted for five months and saw many ideas to unify the world placed on the table, and summarily rejected by most. Finally an idea was accepted, the two hundred sovereign nations of Earth would reform into a number of continental states and unions, pulling their combined resources together for their mutual defence and exploration of the stars.

The first nation to be born was the European Union, with its twenty seven member states signing the Treaty of Warsaw, formerly agreeing after a successful democratic referendum to reform into a Federal Republic not dissimilar to the United States. This new nation was dubbed the European Federation by the world media, a name which would most likely stick. A month later the Tokyo Accord was signed between the nations of Japan, Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, Indonesia, Taiwan and South Korea, reforming into a Parliamentary democracy named the Oceanic Alliance. Although scattered because of the Indian and Pacific Oceans the Alliance commanded one of the largest financial centres in the world, Tokyo.

Russia, China and India expressed their wish to remain as they were, but seemed more than willing in pooling their resources with the rest of the world to face the Colonial threat. South America and Africa seemed to be contemplating forming political and economic unions similar to the European Federations predecessor. The Arab nations in North Africa and the Middle-East were keeping quiet about their decision.

It had also been agreed by all parties that no one nation could have control of the whole world, so a joint interstellar alliance was creating, which consisted of every member nation. This new union was called the United Earth Alliance, similar to its predecessor the United Nations, with representatives of every nation within its ranks. It would be the face of the Tau'ri to the galaxy, its own military consisting of elite soldiers from every major member state, and its own parliament.

And guess who was just elected as the first Commander-in-Chief of the UEA forces.

"Where the hell is my damn coffee" O'Neill asked in an annoyed and exasperated tone, tapping on his empty plastic cup, starring into it like the dark, steaming hot liquid would just magically appear.

"Its coming First Admiral sir" one of his aides, a sweet young lady named Amanda called over her shoulder.

"Stop calling me Admiral" he yelled back "I don't like it!"

"Sir" she replied nervously "Then what should I address you as?"

"General"

"Um sir" she said meekly "You're not a General anymore"

"I don't care" Jack replied, taking on a mocking juvenile tone "I am not an Admiral, I am a General!"

His aide rolled her eyes "Yes sir"

"And where is my coffee!?"

"I brewed a fresh batch a few minute ago"

"Where is it!?"

"To your left sir" she replied "On the filing cabinet"

She heard the squeak of rolling wheels and the ruffle of leather as he got out of his chair, the footsteps as he walked across his new, very large office, the pouring of coffee, the first sip, and a sigh "Thank you Jesus for Nescafe!"

Amanda hid a smile, she had only been recruited into the Admirals staff a few weeks ago, five days after he had had his rank as General forcibly removed from him and replaced with Admiral. She had to admit, he was a lot of work, but he shared the paperwork and she enjoyed his antics, never finding a dull moment in her job, a hundred times better than her old desk job in Homeland Security.

The phone at her desk rung and after a moment of foraging through her paper covered desk found the annoying little ringing device and haphazardly picked it up "Yes" she said in a friendly voice "This is Admiral O'Neill's office"

"Not Admiral" she heard him cry from his room "Its General!!!"

Ignoring him she listened to the man over the phone, a Vice-Admiral Chekov, and promptly did as the heavily accented Russian asked, forwarding his call to the Admiral…General.

Jack picked up the phone, listened for a few moments and shot up out of his chair. "What!!?"

------

She had little interest in what was going on down on Earth, she was far too busy trying to refit the captured Battlestars. It had been agreed that each of these behemoths should be renamed after one of the major cities bombed during the incursion. The six warships were curtly renamed the _New York, Barcelona, Bordeaux, Milan, Alexandria, Damascus _and _Judea_.

Samantha was not religious, but even so she subconsciously sent a silent prayer to the people affected by the disaster before turning a corner and entering the CIC of the _Pegasus_, now renamed the _New York_. She made it three steps before nearly tripping on a cable. Even after six months the mass of scientists and technicians were still trying to figure out what worked with what. Most of the control consoles had been opened up, masses of cables and wiring snaked along the decking.

Among this mess stood Rodney McKay, looking like he really needed a strong cup of coffee. The scientist turned round, saw her and growled in annoyance "Don't talk to me Sam"

"I'm gonna have to if I want a status report" she replied, jumping across a cluster of cables.

"Here's a status report for you" he screamed "The mechanics and controls on this ship are so outdated they make the _Prometheus _look like a work of art. There are no computers linking the systems, the monitors look like our computers in the nineteen eighties! The phones are still corded, CORDED!!!"

"Oh"

"And why would anyone put the bridge in the centre of a ship anyway" Rodney continued "I mean come on, you can't see anything and the only way they could track our movements was with this blasted DRADIS display console. I mean look at it! It looks like something from our old nuclear submarines!!!"

"Oh"

"And then there's the design of this thing, those bloody colonial morons cut corners in her production. Nuts and bolts not the proper sizes, skeletal structure covered in rust, heck some of the metal support beams weren't the right size!"

"Oh"

"And stop saying oh!!!"

"Okay" Sam soothed "How long before they're ready for use"

"Another four to six months at least" Rodney relented, physically deflating after his rant "It's basically the same idea as the _Prometheus_, just on a much larger scale. The shields and half the weapon emplacements on the _New York, Barcelona _and the _Judea _have been installed. As for the other three, it will take more time"

"So if the Colonials attack us now?"

"These things will be no better than massive shielded orbital defence platforms" Rodney replied.

An alarm blared through the CIC, making Sam, Rodney and the entire CIC tech crew look up at the DRADIS displays. Six red blips appeared on the overhead monitor and a mass of information flooded through to the still operational command table.

"This wasn't done by accident was it?" Sam asked hopefully.

"We haven't even started upgrading the thing yet"

Sam rushed up to the command table, a frown covering her features as she looked at the mass of information "Cylons?"

"Sounds like a type of toaster"

------

"We have reached our destination" a Number Four intoned from her place in the main control centre.

"All Basestars have reported in" a Number Two added.

"The scouts are sending us their findings"

Natalie Faust looked up from her database, glancing at the other models on the bridge. A Number 6 she had only recently returned from top secret espionage missions in the Colonies, and had been suddenly promoted to head up this first contact with the Thirteenth tribe "Have the scouts send us the images"

She placed her hands on the white glass surface of her personal data console. A swarm of images from the half dozen Raiders she sent into the system ahead of them assaulted her mind. She saw a planet, not unlike Caprica with great oceans and impressive continents holding almost every ecosystem imaginable.

In orbit around the planet were the six silhouettes of Battlestars, hanging in orbit with next to no power output from their engines. She grew suspicious. Why were six Battlestars circling the planet? Was the intelligence wrong? Did the Colonials defeat the Thirteenth colony?

"It appears that the Colonials have taken the Thirteenth after all"

She heard the One's voice and answered "Or they could have captured these warships intact, if they were in orbit around a hostile planet then their engines would be online and their weapon systems would be charged"

"Hmm, perhaps"

"But just to be safe" she added "Place the Basestars to level two alert"

An alarm burst through her mind from the hybrid, she had sensed the arrival of an unknown vessel, exactly three thousand nine hundred and twenty nine kilometres to their stern, and closing fast.

------

Jack stalked into an area of controlled chaos. Aides rushed about carrying notes and information, dozens of operators sat on communications and computer consoles, keeping watch over the newly orbiting early warning satellites scattered throughout the Sol system as part of the new Sol Defence Network program.

The cavernous rooms made him wish he was back in the nice, small confines of the SGC again. Sadly with the union of the world and everything it was decided by the top brass that the central HQ of Homeworld security be moved to another facility, in a temporary new base in . How he hated politics and all the bloody red tape.

"What have we got" he asked as he walked into the main centre of operations, a small room in the centre of the chamber separated by glass panelled walls, inside was several flat screen televisions held up against walls, and a tactical table in the centre. Standing around the table was Director Hammond of Homeworld security and Vice-Admiral Chekov.

"Our sensors have caught sight of several craft in the system" Chekov said in heavily accented English "From the images we have been able to secure we can tell that they are not Colonial, Asgard or Jaffa"

"Five minutes ago the satellites in sector 23located a small flotilla of alien ships" George picked up a remote control and pointed it at one of the high rise TV's, bringing up an image of a star shaped vessel, it was sleek and deadly, with a dark grey hull bristling with missile and torpedo tubes "They are unlike anything we have ever seen before"

"I guessed as much" Jack grunted "The _Bonaparte's _on her shakedown cruise right? Is she armed?"

"After the attack by the Colonies all of our ships go out armed" Hammond replied.

"Any other ships in the vicinity"

"We have just scrambled the _Apollo _and the _Ark Royal_" Chekov informed him "The _Sun Tzu _can be ready for flight in approximately one hour"

------

The _UES (United Earth Ship) Bonaparte _was originally slated to be the Battlecruiser representing France in the fledgling Earth fleet. But with the attack by the Colonies and the events that followed she was placed in the new UESF (United Earth Space Fleet) under former French Naval commander Gabriel Le Chat. Le Chat himself was a tall and lean individual with a reputation for being a fair commander to his crew and a merciless strategist against his enemies.

"Coming up on the targets now commander" his helmsman reported.

"Arm rail-guns and prep missile tubes" he ordered calmly "Prepare the beam cannons for a concentrated burst, but do not fire unless they do!"

"Aye sir"

The commander leaned back into his chair. If this was the precursor to a Colonial counterattack then his ship would be properly tested. The best and brightest of the French armed forces had been preselected for this assignment. He was confident that they would not let him down.

"We are within range of communications"

"Open a channel"

His communications officer pushed a few runes, before turning back to him and nodding, taking a deep breath the commander spoke "To unknown vessels, this is Commander Gabriel Le Chat of the United Earth Ship _Bonaparte_. You have entered Tau'ri space, halt your ships and state your intentions!"

A burst of static filled the bridge, followed by a female voice, sensual and disarming "We mean you no harm and we apologise for entering your territory without permission. My name is Natalie Faust and I am the commander of this taskforce"

"What are your intentions" Le Chat questioned.

"We would request that we meet with your leaders about the possibility of an alliance with the Thirteenth tribe" the woman answered "We know that you have already made first contact with the Twelve Colonies of Kobol, we also know that without warning they declared war against you, resulting in the deaths of millions of innocent people"

------

"So basically they're Terminators"

From the monitors attached to the walls of the central command centre Le Chat raised an eyebrow, Carter frowned at him and Jackson looked at him like he was a complete and utter lunatic. Finally after a few moments of silence Sam spoke, slowly and with as little technical stuff as possible.

"Well sir these Cylons were a race of machines created by the Twelve Colonies for menial labour and to fight their wars for them. During this time they began to achieve sentient intelligence, and promptly turned against their creators, starting a conflict known as the Cylon War. A few years later a peace accord was signed and they left to find their own world"

"So basically they're Terminators" Jack repeated.

"Sir I really don't think-"

"Terminators Carter"

"But-"

"Terminators, Carter!"

She looked at him for a moment, before sighing in defeat "Yes sir, Terminators"

"Good" he replied "So what do they want?"

"They want to forge a military alliance" Le Chat spoke up "They say they have information on the location of the Twelve Colonies home worlds, as well as information on their fleet sizes, locations, rough population and reports on their defences"

"Sounds like they're bringing a lot to the table" Jack said "But there is one problem"

"What"

"They're machines"

Daniel paused for a moment "So"

"Have you forgotten about the Replicators so quickly?"

"No" Jackson replied "But with the Replicators they came in guns blazing to try and destroy the galaxy, the Cylons came under a flag of truce to discuss the possibility of a mutually beneficial alliance"

"In English please"

"Replicators go boom boom, Cylons appear with white flag and wish to be friends" Daniel said after a moment.

"They could just be sneakier than the Replicators were" Jack pointed out "And hope for us to turn our backs so they could stab us with a knife"

"Very subtle Jack" Carter said deadpan.

"I think so"

"But possible" Le Chat added.

"What does the military council have to say about it?" Carter asked. The council was a group selected from the supreme commanders of the six new super powers to oversee the defence of the planet until a new international military force could be agreed upon. Jack was one such member, working alongside Hammond and high ranking military officials from Russia, India, China, Europe and the Oceanic Alliance.

"They think we should at least talk to them before we blow them out of the sky" Jack replied with a shrug.

"So who will be meeting with them?"

------

Natalie watched nervously as another two Battlecruisers appeared in blinding flashes of light and flanked the _Bonaparte_. These small craft didn't look so deadly from where she was, but she knew from recon reports that to underestimate these ships would be a gross error in judgement, especially considering that only a handful of these warships were able to rout a huge fleet of Colonial Battlestars.

If only a few of them could do that then her little task force of Basestars wouldn't stand a chance. She let out a sigh, thankful that the Resurrection ship accompanying them was safely out of the system, under close guard by three Basestars and a swarm of Raiders.

She turned to see a Number One approach.

"What's the status on the virus?"

He shook his head "They've got powerful firewalls and potent counter detection equipment. To try and upload it would let them know of our intentions"

"And it would not go well for us" she finished, gaining a nod.

"Technologically speaking these humans are far superior to the Colonials and by extension us" the One stated "But one thing has been bothering me"

"And that is"

"The number of ships" he explained "There are only a handful of them in active service, and the lack of any orbital defences around their home world is slightly confusing. To gain this level of technology must mean that they've been advancing for thousands of years, yet there is little information that supports this"

"Could they have stolen them from a more advanced race?"

"Possibly, or they were given the technology as a gift"

"We know that they have allies"

"But they're technology is more advanced than these Jaffa. No; I believe there is a third race in this alliance that hasn't shown them selves yet"

"I see"

"So it would be wise for us to remain cautious"

"Agreed"

------

A flash of blue light and Jack, Sam and Daniel stood on the bridge of the _Apollo_ looking out the view screen at the flotilla of Cylon vessels. They were exactly the same as the ships he saw on the monitors. Two structures shaped like an x, attached by a thick trunk. The vessels were sleek and looked like it could put up a fight with all the missile and torpedo tubes running along its surface. Looking closer he also saw opening which could only be launch bays for fighters. He guessed these ships were designed as fighter carriers.

A few more seconds passed before the teleportation device was activated again, this time transporting their negotiator to the bridge. Richard Woolsey was a former diplomat for the NID (National Intelligence Agency) and went on to be the United States representative in the IOA (International Oversight Advisory). He was a small man with a balding head and glasses, but he was one of the finest diplomats and negotiators in the world.

He shivered "I'll never get used to that"

"Oh you will in time" Carter said with a smile.

"I doubt it"

"So what should we do" Daniel asked "We go to them or they come to us?"

"They come to us obviously" Jack replied.

"Open a channel" the commander of the ship, Abraham Ellis ordered and waited for his communications officer to comply.

"This is Jonathon J. O'Neill, Gen…First Admiral of the United Earth Space Fleet to Cylon forces. You are invited to come to the Battlecruiser _UES Apollo_, you may bring a small bodyguard contingent, but you will be escorted by a flight of F-302's, is that understood?"

"It is understood" a female voice responded over the com.

------

The star system was nothing special, a sun in the mid stage of its life stood out in the centre, orbiting it were nine planets. Three were too close to the sun's powerful heat and were unable to support life, two of the central ones were gas giants, another three were far out, there was one planet in the centre capable of supporting life, but by the looks of it there was nothing but desert and sea.

It was difficult to believe that the Cylon home world was not the habitable one but the third one in the system, a planet whose daily temperature could reach an excess of four hundred degrees, burning the surface to a scorched wasteland. The Cylon menace was definitely there, he could see it.

The surface of the planet was covered with layers of shining metallic steel. Orbiting the planet was a smaller moon which had been as aggressively transformed as its mother world. According to the intelligence of they're new allies the moon was where the enemy's shipyards were stationed, as well as the main Centurion and Raider manufacturing facilities. The main Cylon population lived on the main planet, or to be more precise under it, the intelligence the goddess had gathered said that underneath that steel mesh was a complicated network of tunnels and underground cities, population was unknown.

The defences looked ferocious, in orbit around the planet and her moon was a defence force of roughly one hundred and fifty Basestars, their hulls gleaming dull silver in the light of the sun. They hung there, unmoving, almost like a horde of ghosts. Further out in the system, patrolling in squadrons between five and ten strong were nearly two hundred more Basestars of varying shapes and sizes. It was obvious that they had small outposts and bases on several strategically placed moons and asteroids, as well as a network of early detection satellites to watch out for attack.

The system was, for lack of a better word, a fortress. A fortress which under normal circumstances it would have taken the entire Colonial navy to break. This was not normal circumstance. A hundred Battlestars hung just outside of the early warning blanket, a swarm of smaller escort vessels surrounding them. Hanging above them were the vessels of their ally, six Ha'taks, warships sent to them by the gods themselves.

Admiral Bass looked at the impressive display of defences and showed no fear or hesitation, all around him on his Battlestar his crew worked at they're stations, silently, efficiently, waiting for the moment where they would land a blow which would destroy the Cylon menace once and for all. The failed battle for Earth was a disaster. They needed a victory to raise the morale of both the military and the common people.

The time was coming.

The time was coming.

The time was now.

**Sorry this took so long folks, happy Halloween**


	11. Revelations

_**Chapter 10**_

_**Revelations**_

The Heavy Raider hovered into the portside landing bay with an alien hum, the thrusters dotting its sleek, barbed surface keeping it steady and straight as it was herded through the shielded gateway by a duo of F-302's. Jack examined its main weapons; a barbet of cannons positioned under the cockpit, and knew that if he was in those things line of sight he would be shredded.

Still he waited, watching as the ship came into position and neatly set itself down on its landing struts, its thrusters giving off one last burst of fire before calming. The alien hum slowed but remained a constant small noise just barely noticeable to the First Admiral's ears.

With a flick of his head two squads of United Earth Marines marched forward in a column nine across and two back. They were dressed in black body armour with similarly coloured combat fatigues underneath, black leather boots and a black helmet, each man held a P90 Submachine gun held against their chests, along with an M9 Beretta and a combat knife holstered to their hip.

The main ramp way of the Heavy Raider came open with a hiss and down it came the Cylon contingent. O'Neill was expecting a group of huge lumbering machines, probably something like the Terminator movies. To his surprise he found that the first three to come into view down the ramp looked so human that he had to mentally stop himself from reaching for his sidearm, they reminded him of human form replicators.

Leading them was a woman with long brownish blonde hair reaching down to her shoulder blades. She was sensually beautiful and wore a black vest with dark grey pants and knee high black boots. She seemed to carry no weapons. Following her were another two humanoid beings. One was a male with spiked dirty blonde hair and a rugged appearance. The other took on the form of a tall, bald man with dark skin.

What came behind them even caught the eyes of the eighteen battle hardened marines, their hands gripping their assault rifles tighter than necessary. Two huge hulking machines followed the three delegates. They were sleek and deadly looking creations, humanoid in form with long limbs and a nightmarish head, their bodies encased in armour which gleamed under the lighting of the hanger.

He leaned over to Ellis and whispered into his ear "We're gonna need bigger guns"

This was met by a nod of agreement from the Colonel.

The Cylon delegation walked towards them, sparing a look at the column of marines standing to attention at their right hand side. They stopped a few feet away from O'Neill and Ellis. For the next few moments the atmosphere could have been cut with a butter knife. Then the female of the group took a step forward.

"Do you usually bring such an intimidating scene to a diplomatic conference" she asked, her voice was sensual and her eyes seemed to pierce through his.

He shrugged "What can I say, its tradition"

She nodded slowly, gazed at the column of marines one last time, then turned to him and extended her hand "My name is Natalie Faust, commander of the Cylon diplomatic task force"

Now most people would consider Jack O'Neill to make a grunting noise and refuse to shake hands. Colonel Elis was one of these people, so his surprise was obvious when Jack took her hand and shook it in a firm grip "Jonathon J. O'Neill, First Admiral of the United Earth Space Forces" he paused for a moment "My friends call me Jack"

She raised an eyebrow at the statement "Am I counted as a friend then?"

Once again he shrugged. He was a difficult man to read "Depends how we get along" he gazed at the huge hanger for a moment, before returning to her face "Want to take this to more comfortable surroundings?"

"Please do" she replied with a smile and a nod. She was just as difficult to read.

------

"Ms Faust, may I introduce to you our diplomatic envoy Richard Woolsey, Colonel Samantha Carter and Chief Scientist Daniel Jackson" he said as they entered a small meeting room with a circular table in its centre, within were three other humans. All three stood and nodded to her and her two associates, which they returned respectfully.

For the good of diplomatic relations she had left her two Centurion guards in the hanger with the Thirteenth's eighteen heavily armed Marines, and she said nothing when they entered a room heavily guarded by two United Earth Marines at the entrance.

She shook their hands in turn "I am Natalie Faust, commander of the taskforce, my associates are Leoban and Simon O'Neill" they nodded their heads and shook hands with the Thirteenth's representatives, then took seats across the table from them as they were motioned.

She took her seat and looked each of the four in the eye. With O'Neill she saw a man hardened by war and politics, a difficult one to read, but an honest one who would tell it as he sees it. The woman was also a soldier, she could tell by the look of her eyes, and there was a bit of a scientist as well by the interest she showed in them. The other younger male was definitely a scientist, but also one who had seen his share of blood, and the final one was a politician through and through.

But she caught something in their eyes that she had seen in the humans of the twelve when Cylon was brought up, though not nearly to as great a degree. She saw discomfort and a slight bit of fear in their eyes, but no hate, at least not yet. She decided to address this issue.

"Do we make you nervous?" she asked, gaining looks from her two associates and surprise from their counterparts "I am a very good reader of people. I see a mix of emotions in your eyes"

"We have had some bad first contacts with synthetic life forms in the past" the one known as Woolsey stated, his voice was calm and diplomatic, not missing a beat.

"I see"

"We'll get to that later" Jonathon…Jack said "For now lets talk about ourselves and what you wish from this alliance"

"What we wish" Leoban spoke up "Is an alliance with the Thirteenth tribe against the Twelve Colonies"

"Enough with the Thirteenth tribe already" Jack muttered "Just call us the Tau'ri"

"Tau'ri?" Simon asked.

"In Goa'uld it means _First ones _or _ones from the first world_" the one called Daniel said "It's a name other peoples across the galaxy, friend and foe have come to know us as"

"Tau'ri it is then" Faust said with a smile, she did not ask what the Goa'uld were, that would be kept for a later time.

The four nodded. Seemingly glad to have the word Thirteenth changed "Where we come from thirteen is a very unlucky number"

"You believe in superstition" she asked with a bit of mirth.

"Doesn't harm anyone" Jack said "Right, sorry about that, continue"

Leoban nodded "As I said we wish to make an alliance with the…Tau'ri against the Twelve Colonies. We are willing to put forward the full might of our fleet as well as intelligence reports on their defences, patrol patterns and ship numbers"

"Sounds like you're bringing a lot to the table" Woolsey said "But we have a question, why would you wish for our help?"

The three looked at each other for a moment before Natalie decided to speak "Even though we have been in a state of peace with the Twelve we have never felt completely secure. There have been several instances where they have entered our territory without our permission on spying operations, other times they have acted aggressively upon us, daring us to respond with force as an excuse to declare war. To put it short First Admiral we wish to send them a message to leave us alone"

It was partly true, the Colonials had sent spying operations and had been known to open fire upon any Cylon ships if they saw them. Sometimes the most convincing lie was made of partial truth. She would not tell these humans of their plans to annihilate the Twelve, and, if these humans proved no better them as well.

"Sounds good enough to me" Jack relented "I will put this forward to my superiors, in the mean time the three of you may stay here as honoured guests"

------

"What are you thinking?"

Jack looked back to see Carter walking towards him with a cup of coffee in each hand, the first diplomatic talks lasted for the better part of a half hour and a break was called. The three Cylons were shown temporary quarters and placed under guard surveillance. All in all everything appeared to be going well, perhaps too well.

"They're hiding something" he said, taking a sip of the steaming hot liquid with a content sigh "I have a feeling they have a few skeletons in the closet they don't want us to know about"

"The same could be said about us"

"Yeah I know, but still the feeling won't go away"

"I know, I feel it too" Sam agreed "It went too well. Everything seemed to go so easily"

"Too easily"

She took a sip "Yeah, too easily"

------

"Anything" Natalie asked, slowly walking around their temporary quarters. Leobon and Simon checked the steel bulkheads and meagre furniture with little handheld scanners, searching every nock and cranny for any listening devices.

After a few additional minutes Leobon turned to the six and shook his head "Nothing that we can detect"

She nodded and relaxed on the simply furnished, yet relatively comfortable leather chair, reaching out for a cup of what the humans of this world called coffee. She brought it up to her face, blew out the steam and took a tentative sip. If it were poisoned she would just be transferred to a Resurrection ship. The taste was hot and bitter, but she liked it.

"This isn't half bad" she said "You guys should try yours"

Simon looked at the simple grey cup on the table, the steaming dark liquid held within "Maybe another time"

"We don't want to seem overly suspicious to our hosts" Leobon replied, picking up the tea cup and taking a gulp, his eyes widened and he nearly spat it out "By god that's boiling"

Besides herself Natalie laughed "It's a drink that's supposed to be sipped, not gulped"

Simon remained stoic, yet when he spoke they could hear the tension in his voice "How can you two joke around like this. We are right in the middle of an enemy camp"

"We are in the middle of a neutral camp" Leobon replied "We know nothing of these Tau'ri, their culture or their history"

"Humans are humans" Simon shot back mildly "They cannot be trusted. They steal, lie, manipulate, kill and destroy anything they don't understand. It is in their nature"

"Maybe" Natalie replied, breaking up the two "But I for one am not just going to run home screaming human, human. We wait, we talk to these people, we create alliances, make treaties and then we decide whether they are a threat to us or not"

Simon was silent for a moment "And the virus?"

"When we left they still could not penetrate the firewalls" Natalie replied "Their technology in almost every department is very advanced, beyond what our virus's can crack" she set down her cup and looked both her brothers in the eye "We're not going to be able to win a war with these people that way"

------

The battle was in its third hour. The Colonials were pushing the defences of the Cylons over and over, stretching it left and right, hoping to find a breaking point. Admiral Bass watched as the battle lines of Colonial Battlestars exchanged long range missile fire with clusters of Cylon Basestars. Missiles streamed from launchers in shoals, many being intercepted in blooms of fire by Raiders and Vipers.

The opening gambit had paid off well, the outer defences of outposts and ship flotillas had been completely taken by surprise. The main Colonial fleet had been separated into six taskforces, each one charged with either taking out the three major outpost bases positioned along the asteroid belt, or surprising the three main taskforces of Basestars in the outer systems.

The outposts were taken out quickly and efficiently, the three squadrons of Battlestars, made of four _Galactica-class _and eight _Valkyrie-class_ eachjumped right into the middle of the asteroid field. One _Valkyrie _struck a two mile long asteroid, skewering its left portside flight pod in an explosion of fire. But the majority made it with little trouble. The moment they jumped in they all fired a full salvo of tactical missiles into the asteroids. A minute after the start of the operation the three outposts had been completely annihilated.

Scattered across the system the other three taskforces jumped into the system and opened up with rail-gun emplacements and missile salvoes, completely taking the outer Cylon battlegroup off guard. But unlike the outposts the outer fleets acted efficiently, a quarter of their Basestars had been destroyed before they reformed and counterattacked.

The trump card for the Colonials was the small flotilla of Ha'taks which jumped in with the first taskforce. Immediately they separated, soaring past the first line of Basestars, using their incredible speed and manoeuvrability to outmanoeuvre the lumbering Cylon cruisers, peppering them with plasma fire as they passed. Three of the nine enemy cruisers were taken out by the Goa'uld's pass. As they passed by the second line they took out another two Basestars, doing damage to a further three others.

By the fourth hour eighty percent of the outer battle group had been systematically destroyed, with the loss of twenty Battlestars and minor damage to two Ha'taks. What few survivors performed tactical withdrawals to their inner system battle group. This one promised to be much harder. They no longer had the advantage of surprise, and with the formidable orbital defences the planet itself had the casualties where going to be much higher.

The outer skirmishes were over.

The main battle was about to begin.

------

"First Admiral"

Jack turned to see Ellis walk into the canteen, a scrap of paper held in his hands, the commander looked a little apprehensive about something. Sadly O'Neill was not a mind reader, torture was generally frowned upon too, so the best he could do was ask the man what he wanted "Yeah, what have you got for me Ellis?"

Without hesitation the commander handed the slip of paper to his superior officer, stood at ease and waited for his response. For a while Jack read the information, his face unreadable. Finally he sighed, handing the paper back to the former United States Air Force Colonel and asked him the question he knew he had to ask "How long ago?"

"About five minutes ago we detected a virus trying to sneak its way through our firewalls"

"Did it breach?"

"Nope" the ship captain replied with a smile "It didn't even dent the firewall, or any of the other anti-virus systems. In fact it's similar in style to your average Trojan horse virus, just far more advanced. If that thing got into our systems we would be looking at this entire ship shutting down"

"Just when it seemed like a nice day" Jack growled "Was it destroyed?"

"Yes sir, it only took our anti-viral systems ten seconds to do so"

"God I love Asgard technology" O'Neill said out loud "So what are you thinking, you think our little cyberspace friends planted this?"

"Without a doubt sir"

"What a shame" Jack replied sarcastically "But I suppose we can use this to our advantage"

"Yes si-"

Before Jack could hear Ellis finish his reply he was encompassed by a brilliant blue light, temporarily blinding his vision. There was a mechanical pop, and when he opened his eyes again he found himself no longer on the bridge of his Battlecruiser, instead he found himself in a large observation deck, overlooking the beautiful blue planet which he called home.

"Greeting O'Neill" a monotone voice said from behind him. With a sigh the First Admiral turned to find his little friend sitting behind a curved command console. Thor had not changed, at all, he was still a little grey alien, about a meter tall with slightly long spindly arms and legs, ending in three digits.

"Thor, buddy" Jack began "You really should stop doing that"

"Doing what?"

"Transporting me from wherever I am to your alien craft" he clarified "I mean come on, can't you at least give me a warning?"

"Forgive me O'Neill" Thor replied, though with his voice it was hard to tell if he were sincere or not "And on behalf of the Asgard High Command I apologise for not being able to come to your assistance in your time of great need"

He waved it off "Eh, no worries. I mean several million people were brutally massacred, the planet is threatening to go into shut down through nuclear radiation and we have a huge enemy at our door more than happy to push the big red button. But its fine, don't worry about it"

"Was that sarcasm?"

"Yes"

"We will never understand it"

"I figured" Jack rubbed his forehead, feeling a migraine coming on "So what can we do for you today…you didn't revive the Replicators did you?"

"Once was enough"

"You got that right"

"We are here for several reasons. First is that we have sufficiently revived our military force enough to defend our protectorate again, as I speak three _O'Neill-class _Battlecruisers should be here within the next few hours to help guard Earth from any other attacks"

"Thanks"

"We have also despatched several Science vessels and Terraformers to help clean the radiation from your world's atmosphere"

"Thanks. That will really help smooth things over"

"And we will share what knowledge we have at our disposal on the Twelve Colonies of Kobol, along with the Cylons"

"Wait you knew about the Twelve?"

"Yes, although we did not expect you to make contact with them for several more years"

"Looks like we have went beyond our expectation barrier again"

"So it would seem"

"So, what can you tell me about our enemies, and our new supposed allies?"

"As of twelve hours ago it has been brought to our attention that the leadership of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol has been taken over by the Goa'uld"

It took a few minutes for the news to sink in, and when it did Jack was still having a little trouble digesting it "Why won't these things just die?"

* * *

_**To anyone who hasn't noticed it by now I have disabled all anonymous reviews from my stories. The reason behind it is because I am sick of getting these flame mails from a bunch of cowards who lack the balls to put it on a signed review. They show up, flame the hell out of my stories and then just sign some really crappy penname like Bob or –. A real good example is:**_

'_**You suck, terrible story, stats on the ships are completly wrong! Delete this crap!' By – (Yes that's really the loser's penname) (He even misspelled completely)**_

_**Just thought I should give all you real writers and reviewers a heads up. Anyway hope you all enjoyed this new chapter, till next time!**_


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